A surprising insight by the author of All Quiet on the Western Front.  You will never see this month the same way again, here proposed as a metaphor for a stage of life, the ninth month of a lifespan of twelve.  So many fine aspects of a human existence, including sustained hopes and promises, freedom from regret, and intensity of youth combined with the clarity of experience. 

How it should be, how I hope it is for you.   Happy September, may it be golden and quiet.   

These days of September. They go like arrows through one’s heart. Floating, full of nameless goodbyes, sustained hopes and promises, golden and quiet without regrets.  To keep the intensity of youth clearer by experience comes the mystic ninth month of the year: the beginning of the second life – conscious, but without resignation. 

Source: Erich Maria Remarque in a letter to Ingrid Bergman, quoted in Ingrid Bergman: My Story, Ingrid Bergman & Alan Burgess, p. 175 

Photo credit: Gozha Net at unsplash