A vision of plenty in Carlton Gardens. Deep in the dappled light beauty spreads its way in Carlton Gardens. Everywhere the sun is bringing colour and liveliness and flavour and joy—trees bask gratefully in the embrace, lovers take selfies on seats, sunglasses on and happiness abounding. Shadows recede and an expanding thankfulness blesses all who walk by the fountains, exhibiting signs of delight on their faces, residue from the noonday sun making their smiles radiant and unabashed. This is abundance and fullness, an experience of wonder and awe and all that is magnificent about day.
It seems everyone can have a sunny Autumn day in Carlton Gardens — leaves decomposing under foot, trading shades of green for orange and gold. The opulence of creation is here for all to enjoy—the hungry and the satisfied, the grateful and the worried alike.
Somewhere close by a troubled man walks through the gardens, unable to fathom the light that surrounds him, so filled up with regret, riddled with loss, and conscious only of the ground beneath his feet, the Autumn leaves more copper than gold. This one lonely man trudges through the gardens his eyes downcast, and the lovers continue taking photos, the trees continue their earnest embrace of sky until their branches look on him with compassion and drop leaves into his path. Noticing, and overcome with the emotion of all he has been carrying, our man finds himself weeping and dropping to his knees and the leaves fold into love before his eyes and the world resumes its colour, and his loss, though terrible, now seems less consuming. The brilliant light surrounds him and the lovers begin to notice: the sun, this man on his knees, an abundance of leaves falling like red tears from the branches above. In a moment, our man will rise, pick up his crumpled bag and walk to the other side of the gardens. But for now something close to joy moves within him — fresh as wonder, dappled as light.
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