S a p h i r

§

'The dusky light let emerge the essence
of creation. It unburdens things from
an excess of blinding luminescence.
The whole is no more stifled.

This light helps things becoming true,
tones turning into colours, shadows gaining
a body and the details being drawn with care
to let us walk in all this pictorial beauty. This
clear light enables us to live again all the golden
ages of gardens. Spicy fragrances of medicinal
herbs are spreading from the hortus conclusum
of Saint Bernard and a bit farer a magic
horn is blowing ciphered messages to the
trembling knee lady. I perceive the
flowing of the waters while I 'm
riding towards the hanging
gardens of Babylon,
perfumed oasis
of Ishtar.
|
The soft quivering of a Japanese tree calms
me down. It 's time of prayer and contemplation
in the stillness of silence. In this precise moment
I long for perfection and I feel in harmony with
the beauty of the universe. Every path is a
place of light, a unique and perfect
image of love and peace.'

Francesca Nicoli

"The rain drops
falling on the leaves
are like tears of a siren
weeping pearls.
The moon light flows like water on the country.

The wind sighs among the trees and sweetly
skims over a lute.

When dawn arrives we are awoken
by a fresh breeze and all the dust
of the world runs away, the thirst
estinguishes and the troubles
vanish. If we keep our soul
open we can penetrate the
mysterious forces
governing a
garden."

'Yuan Yeh' by Chi Ch 'eng
The book of gardens, end of the Ming dynasty

 

'The demanding matter concerning art imitating
nature rather than nature imitating art finds its
full point of synthesis in the garden.
The elements composing it
coincide with the ones
that are at the origin
of life on our planet :
water, air, earth, fire,
light and colours.
When we cross a garden or walk
along a wall surrounding it
or see its reproduced picture
with our memory we go back
to an atmosphere, a light,
a place we have known or
just imagined.

The garden is
intimately linked to nature
but also to symbols, mysticism, life itself.
Its beauty is given by the harmony governing
the elements composing it. Harmony itself
creates that beauty which is the
essence of the aesthetic
taste for life.

We are constrained in an environment
and life style becoming more and
more alienating and alienated.
We should make an effort to
disintoxicate ourselves from
this addiction to everyday-life
which is mainly based on a restricted
perspective of what is functional and productive.

All of this is leading us to live a life without
memories, passions, beauty, poetry,
past and even future. The garden
experience should be something
felt by everybody and it should
find more and more room in
our dreams and spiritual growing.'

extract taken from Marina Magi 's introduction
to Pierre Grimal 's book 'L 'art des jardins'

§