I descend a broad
stone stairway and pass through a half fallen arch overgrown
by vine and rhododendron, finally emerging onto the banks of
a vast sunset lake.
Evening breeze. Closing waterlilies. Many fires are lit on the
opposite shore as the sunset dies and twilight turns to blue
evening.
Fragrances of wood smoke and cooking and the sound of many voices
talking, laughing, arguing, singing, are carried on the cool
lake breeze. Silhouetted figures move from group to group around
the fires. Children and animals, musicians and entertainers.
Dogs bark across the distances. Roasting spits turn over the
fires. The moon rises huge and silvery.
A few figures splash in the moonlit lake. Their distant laughter
echoing from the trees on the shore. Under the surface the bells
of the submerged rooms of the cathedral ring slowly, moved by
the currents of the lake. The swimmers feel the vibrations in
their bodies as they swim in the warm waters above.
Some of the taller spires project out from the surface, and trees
and vines have taken root among their ornate stonework. The swimmers
use these spires as islands in their games, diving from them
back into the lake, making love or resting for a while in the
foliage.
All along the dimming horizon there are vast rolling meadows,
scattered sheep and cattle, woodlands, courtyards flanked by
pillars and archways and weathered statuary. Among the hills
and fields can be seen the faint lights of many small fires.
As far as I can see in the silvery moonlight is an endless succession
of grottoes, lakes, fountains, waterfalls, forests, ruined gardens
and palaces, misty river valleys, overgrown stairways, workshops,
vineyards, orchards, quarries, arcades, rivers, bridges and colonnades. |
