The walk thirsted him to a bench: that one beneath the plane tree invited; but sitting thereon was an indeterminate whose face bore no benefit; the next, in the variegated shade of the park’s railings on which sat an elderly man whose furrowed face boded well, was the one; he greeted him and was surprised to hear a crisp ‘and good morning to you’ in response.

At the falling of a leaf from the plane tree came further confirmation of the perfection of every moment: he had breakfasted on delightful eggs in the company of the relaxed, the sun was invigorating, the passers-by multicoloured, and so now thoughts might be encouraged to rise from this bien-être: ghina is ridaa or contentment is riches is the haqq, no doubt for has He not declared, ‘Fa-ayna tadhhaboun?’ – ‘Where then are you going?’ – that the moment of contentment engenders movement to the forty neighbours on either side of one to ensure they too have breakfasted and tasted the sun and the falling leaf, and that movement is change, on which such vitality thrives.

O chameleon, now maligned of the Arabs, amongst the leaves of the orange tree: ‘red and green and blue are, as you so well know, the primal colours: the red of the Fire, the green of the Garden, the blue of the endless skies: you are not two-faced but as multifaceted as His creation, pointing to the very cure if they would understand – the dua of Sidi ‘Ali al-Jamal, ‘Allahumma, keep us in change’. And, die Hoffnung lauert, for your name is held in reverence by some, a very few – those who link it to battle, to the spear and to the plunder of the mihrab.

«… l’Etna nevoso, colonna del cielo / d’acuto gelo perenne nutrice / lo comprime. / Sgorgano da segrete caverne / fonti purissime d’orrido fuoco, / fiumi nel giorno riversano / corrente di livido fumo / e nella notte rotola / con bagliori di sangue / rocce portando alla discesa / profonda del mare, con fragore.»

(Pindaro, Pitica I 470 a.C.)

«... snowy Etna, column of the sky / nurturer of acute perennial frost / pressing down upon it /purest sources of horrid fire springing from secret caves, / rivers pouring out by day / currents of livid smoke / and in the night rolling / with flashes of blood / causing rocks to descend / in the deep of the sea, with a roar. "

(Pindar, Pitica I 470 BC)

But primarily a Sign of the All-Powerful, and secondly a provider of hot thermal springs for the poor to make ghusl in.