A Bequest of Wonder

Within the confines of a silken sheet, the observers attend upon the temple. Before it returns to ash and dust, they light a votive offering. It is   in a portrait the thumbnail of the painter’s right hand   the sparse arm-hairs of a samurai beset by ghosts   the frog at the woman’s feet,

Scherzo: Allegro before the Finale

as told to me by Klara Last week three of my octogenarian friends dropped in. Nobody drops in on me! But they did: from Brighton, Cambridgeshire and Dorset.   So, where are we going out tonight? asked my friend from Brighton. I had no idea, but we found pizza.   (I don’t know why I