AR LAN Y MOR (BY THE SEA)

Fair the sun at new day’s dawning
Fair the rainbow’s colours shining
Fair the summer, fair as heaven
Fairer yet the face of Elin

If God had looked to find Adam and Eve contrite and bring them back to Eden, he might only have glanced down upon the secluded bay along the Ceredigion coast where Geraint and Elin would spend their entire summers basking in the warmth of the sun and the freshness of the sparkling sea.

For each morning in summer after he'd finished delivering milk to the town, Geraint would join Elin down at the beach and they'd spend the rest of the day swimming and idling in as close to a state of grace as any two humans on this earth could possibly hope for.

Sometimes Elin would feel genuinely guilty that they had unlocked such simple secrets of contentnent in mere existing and found it truly alien to hear her friends complain about their miserable lives and yet be in touching distance of the same paradise that she enjoyed.

"What a blessing it is we live in such a place, Geraint."

"It's true Elin. We truly are blessed."

Lying back in the emerald water and gazing at the blue sky above them, they both knew all good things eventually had a price and when the autumn and winter returned as it always inevitably must the clouds would darken once again and the rain would fall with a vengeance. But for Geraint and Elin it mattered little as they saw it as the natural debt that paid for the beauty they enjoyed.

It was deep winter and and an especially harsh one at that and Geraint and Elin, now in their dotage, were sadly both too old to enjoy their special beach the way they once did when they were young.

Lighting the fire to stay warm inside their modest, rubble stoned cottage, Geraint could feel the darkness of the sky almost invade the privacy of their modest home.

"We should charge it rent."

"Who?"

"The bloody winter!"

Laughing, Elin passed one of her recently knitted shawls on the back of her chair to her husband.

Watching his wife laugh was the highlight of his day. He had spent the best part of fifty years with that laugh and it was the only one he actively prompted.

"Cheer up! Only another twelve weeks until Spring," Geraint said as he added another log on the stove.

Elin laughed again and continued knitting a tiny cardigan for her granddaughter.

"You always said it's the price we pay for summer."

"Aye. God is the landlord and we're all paying for his creation one way or another."

Wrapping his wife's shawl across his legs and sitting opposite her in front of their now roaring fire, Gareth felt a similar contentment in this moment as he had all those many decades long ago on their beach. Yes, they were older now and more frail but the spirit remained undimmed. As he gazed at Elin's beautiful face he saw the eternal flame of youth burn as bright as ever before.

"I love you, my wife."

"I love you, my husband."

And with that he began to sing the song she was named after and even the imposing darkness had to retreat momentarily while he did.

Ar lan y môr mae rhosys cochion
Ar lan y môr mae lilis gwynion
Ar lan y môr mae 'nghariad inne
Yn cysgu'r nos a chodi'r bore.