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Blackwood, Algernon, 1869-1951

"The Extra Day"

They swung to the
rhythm of his little song:
My secret's in the wind and open sky,
There is no longer any Time--to lose;
The world is young with laughter; we can fly
Among the imprisoned hours as we choose.
The rushing minutes pause; an unused day
Breaks into dawn and cheats the tired sun;
The birds are singing. Hark! Come out and play!
There is no hurry! Life has just begun!


THE EXTRA DAY
BEHIND _TIME_

I

The day broke. It broke literally. The sky gave way and burst asunder,
scattering floods of radiant sunshine. This was the feeling in Uncle
Felix's heart as he came downstairs to breakfast in the schoolroom. A
sensation of feathery lightness was in him, of speed as well: he could
rise above every obstacle in the world, only--there were no obstacles
in the world to rise above. Boredom, despair, and pessimism, he
suddenly realised, meant deficiency of energy merely. "Birds can rise
above everything--and so can I!"--as though he possessed a robin's
normal temperature of 110 degrees!
Although it was Sunday morning, and a dark suit was his usual custom,
he had slipped into flannels and a comfortable low collar, without
thinking about it one way or the other.


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