I’m in a garden. A garden like I’ve never seen before. A garden filled with reds, blues, whites, lavenders. So many hues. Such an abundance. And all these fragrances. Deliciously overwhelming. I never to want leave.
Slowly I walk through the wondrous landscape, seeing and hearing all the little birds with their various melodies. Here and there, monarch butterflies flit about. Bees buzzing, hop from flower to flower, making magic.
I sit down under an arboretum’s latticed dome to rest, contemplate, and absorb all that is around me. I’m in Heaven.
After what seems a wonderful term in Eternity, I arise and walk from the lattice’s respite to follow the path to even more gardens. But…
What happened to all the loveliness? It’s gone. I’m in the pale of night, in an eerie purplish blue fog, on a bridge arching over a wide river. In the distance, I see blurry yellow lights from lampposts. It’s warm as a soft summer’s eve should be. I’m not afraid. Perhaps perplexed? Then curious. What happened to my wondrous garden of flowers? I’ve gone from a summer’s afternoon to eventide in a blink. How so, I ask? I contemplate the slow moving water as the purple-blue mist softly envelopes me and the sky above, which I cannot see. As before, I enjoy the warmth of heavenly bliss and do not wish to leave.
A warm wind pushes the haze away and takes me to where I already thought I was. Above me is Heaven with swirls of light. There are stars, planets, cosmic bursts, streaks of white, traces of blues. But, the stars! I am within the most beautiful of starry nights.
I question the “why” of all this. So much beauty. So many changes. Changes so diverse. Changes so beautiful, and I at the center of it all. Who, what, made this happen? Happen to me? Who or what is so powerful, so understanding, so wonderful, as to select me to enjoy so much in so short a time? Surely, I am dreaming?
No. Not dreaming. Just a person. A person living in the moments of great mens’ imaginations, creativity and love.
Slowly I close my copy of the Collected Works of the Impressionists Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. My favorite artists.
