I'm a WANDERER at heart and the book inspired me to travel on a SECRET MISSION to the DISTANT HORIZONS of Istanbul ON THE FRONTIER of Asia aboard the ORIENT EXPRESS. It sometimes feels like time is RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU and I was RUNNING HARD like a BULLET  out of a gun in THE RACE to arrive on time AT THE HARBOUR. I arrived just in time to set sail across the English Channel on the OCEAN GYPSY ferry and leave behind the ISLAND of Great Britain. I love the SOUNDS OF THE SEA and it was a beautiful day IN THE SUNSHINE, underneath the CARPET OF THE SUN which glimmered like sparkling PORCELAIN.

Upon arrival in France, I felt like I was BOUND FOR INFINITY, with the most dramatic adventure IN MY LIFE just beginning. CAN YOU UNDERSTAND how good it felt to realise a dream when I'd LET IT GROW in my heart for so long? I still had a long way to go though but at least I was CLOSER THAN YESTERDAY to realising my dream. The FACE OF YESTERDAY was behind me now because this was the DAY OF THE DREAMER. I dreamed of  travelling to exotic places like the ISLAND of KALYNDA, A MAGICAL ISLE with a WATERFALL which sparkles BLOOD SILVER LIKE MOONLIGHT and where THE VULTURES FLY HIGH in their FLIGHT over distant shores. That was about as likely as seeing FAERIES LIVING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN though and my dreams vanished as quickly as the flames on a funeral pyre when only the ASHES ARE BURNING.

My real ambition was to eventually travel north from Istanbul to KIEV to experience exotic THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND, including those mysterious UKRAINE WAYS. I'd have to be careful to avoid TOUCHING ONCE on the delicate subject of the recent war with Russia though. I was planning  to head to the  northwest of MOTHER RUSSIA where I'd heard the extreme COLD IS BEING like the inside of a freezer. I'd love to see the NORTHERN LIGHTS for the first time with their MAJIK shimmering SYMPHONY OF LIGHT. It'd be like one of those awesome moments when you could sing A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS and CRY TO THE WORLD with joy and shout "CAN YOU HEAR ME now"?

I had a long journey ahead but I was looking forward to being  BACK HOME ONCE AGAIN with my FRIENDS, when I'd be sure to remind them that I THINK OF YOU when I'm away.

That was just a short Novella I wrote some time ago telling the story of Scheherazade, which serves as a handy Prologue to this latest Top 5 poll. I could take a wild guess and say that Ashes Are Burning will probably go on to win this Renaissance poll, although I'm under no Illusion that I'll probably be wrong again. I doubt if any songs from the Camera Camera album will make the final Top 5 cut, but who knows what the Turn of the Cards will reveal in the long Time-Line of Renaissance songs, where they quite literally have A Song for All Seasons. In the meantime, I'm going to dream of Tuscany, where the hills are often bathed in a Grandine il Vento (Symphony of Light) under an Azure d'Or sky.