Much have I travelled in the realms of gold My early journeys into the world of words began before I even

began to understand the meaning of them, but as the wise man said to Santiago, and Grandma Willow to Pocahontas, to travel into the realm, to speak a universal language all you need is to listen with your heart. My early romps through the magical world of verse were complete with magic rabbits, naughty school girls, briar rabbits, dashing merry outlaws, a special honey-loving bear ,the Annes and the Katys, among others. Their stories, their lives, their problems and their emotions flowed over me as smooth as spun silk. Along with them and their friends I travelled deeper into the world where I met a few young people a young orphaned wizard, another young orphan who asked for more, an apprentice mage and his summoned Djinn, Santiago, Artemis, a boy and his tiger, and many, many more - whose lives had and would send ripples through this realm and the others. It was at this time that I began my long and highly polygamous love affair with fictional characters. From Aragorn and Legolas to Atticus Finch and Mr Darcy, I fell for them all and with the realm they all existed in - a realm, which Mr Keats rightly compared to its weight in gold. Through the daily grind and boredom of life, my realm of spun words of gold, was my escape, my saviour, my hope and the cause of me day dreaming through a number of days and events. The realm seems to have this black hole effect. If you have to right wavelength, each story represented as a book draws you further and further into the realm, right up to the point of no escape and beyond. Though I dont have the time to visit all my old friends very often as I make new ones here every day, someday I do plan on visiting them again this time to introduce young, fresh minds into the realm of gold for them to grow up with the same characters I grew up with and many more; to allow them to fall madly in love and not have to worry about broken hearts, to learn, to laugh, to cry, to feel, to grow and to be completely enchanted by the magic of it all; to tell them to never forget to look for the Brownies and Elves under mushrooms, and never stop waiting for their acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Much have I travelled through this realm, up and down, back and forth and so much have I gained from it. The most beautiful thing about this realm, you ask? I havent even covered a 1/100th of the entire realm. So much more of it and so many more of its residents are just waiting for me to find the door to reach them. And I will. So come with me, lets meet an ancient mariner outside a wedding and listen to stories of little men and women. Lets travel with Gulliver and Charlie, lets learn of war and peace and lets hear about the Tom Sawyers and the Rhett Butlers. Let us travel through the realms of words. Let us journey to a world more precious that all the gold it can hold, all the way through towards the elusive other side of this realm of magic, imagination, joy and pleasure.