Many courtyards,
arcades, corridors, stairways, lead off from this nave. People
wander freely across its floor on their way to and from the many
levels of streets and walkways beyond. The division between these
sprawling alleys, overgrown gardens and balconies glimpsed outside
and the church itself is vague and undefined, one leading imperceptibly
into another. It seems that they are all a part of the same rambling
labyrinthine structure.
I pass through many antique ecclesiastical foyers, ante-rooms
and ornate restaurants among the pillars... Shady swimming pools
and urinals of stone and fern and dark gothic ironwork, opening
out into narrow cobbled streets with mossy stone baptismal fonts
and intricately carved wooden pulpits covered in rambling vines.
On every side there are glimpses of other floors, worn spiral
stairways, galleries, deep lily pools, bridges and balconies.
I move effortlessly through many rooms... Down many corridors
lined with fragments of gold icons and ancient paintings in tarnished
gilt frames... Worn flagged floors littered with dead leaves.
I remember glimpses of bathers in ferny stone pools. Dormitories
with rows of sleeping figures. Strange allegories in the stained
glass windows. Overgrown gardens, hazy riverbanks and ruined
parklands seen from wrought-iron balconies. Mist and willow trees.
Ivy and mosses and small violets on decayed stone steps. A tangled
garden rampant with blossom locked behind massive rusty iron
gates. Fragrant smoke of wood fires from huge ovens where bread
is being baked and food prepared.
In a long dark room lined with mirrors is laid a brass bowl of
fruit. Another of freshly gathered mushrooms still damp with
dew. Glass dishes of cold roast game. Tall white flowers in worn
silver vases. Bowls of wild strawberries, fresh salmon, smoked
meats. A crystal decanter of deep red wine. Glass goblets so
old they have become delicately iridescent. |
