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A law was made a distant moon ago hereJuly and August cannot be too hot;And there's a legal limit to the snow here—
The rain may never fall till after sundownBy eight the morning fog must disappearIn short there's simply notA more congenial spotFor happ'ly ever-aftering than here in Camelot.
Sydney Smith's contribution regarding the Golden Fantasy phenomenon of many infantile and narcissistic patients is revisited in an attempt to elucidate the reasons such fantasies are often not only difficult to coax to consciousness in patients, but are often notably unyielding to subsequent interpretive efforts as well. In particular, the adaptive, life-sustaining aspects of such Golden Fantasies, via their ego-integrative and self-defining properties, are highlighted. Subsequent treatment implications regarding the importance of dealing with Golden Fantasies as bridges to treatment alliance formation, rather than as impediments to such, are elaborated following some illustrative clinical vignettes.