yldann

On an unremarkable day, I walked toward my destination along an unremarkable city street. On this street, I saw a Wall that stood unobtrusively among many such walls in this city. I'm not certain if it was a trick of the light, or if a shadow on the wall moved just right within my peripheral vision, but I had the distinct feeling that there was something very odd about this particular wall.

The wall was not made from the plain concrete that typified most of the city's more recent structures. It was made from huge, old, grey stones, hewn from the mountainside during some forgotten century when architecture was considered to be a great art. The stoneworkers, architects, and masons who had fashioned and arranged these stones in their present form no longer walked the earth.

I ran my hands along the warm stone where the sun had kissed it minutes before, and it seemed to welcome the acknowledgment, as if possessed of an innate sentience. It exuded protectiveness, and had long been a safe haven for the vines, lichens, mosses, and insects that inhabited it.

Branches laden with pears, peaches, apples and figs overhung the top of the wall, daring the foolhardy to attempt to reach them. Only the birds who nested in the branches above (and those who knew of the secret passageways under the earth) could hope to taste the fruit.

I was now standing at the corner of the wall, and saw that it turned down a narrow alleyway. I followed the wall along the alley, and saw that the wall had become buried under thick vines and impenetrable brambles. The well-manicured city sidewalks and pavement gave way to rough cobblestones, and the lawns disappeared in favor of dandelions, bluebells, chicory, thistles, wild daisies, and other wild herbs growing between the ancient cobblestones.

Although I had not noticed it before, I now saw the only entryway into the garden beyond the wall -- an old oaken gate. Vines, heavy with plump berries and grapes, climbed up the wall on either side of the gate as if making an offering to all who entered.

I slowly walked up the stone alleyway to the gate, and on a whim, knocked three times...

To my surprise, the gate swung slowly open. A burst of wild color greeted me, along with the sense that the garden was larger on the inside of the wall than it had looked from the street. I shut the gate behind me and latched it. Directly in front of me was a small spring emerging from the wall. I found this rather odd, but it paid me no heed and laughed merrily in the sunshine, spilling into a small stone pond before trickling off down a winding, rock-lined streambed to water an impossible array of life. To my left was a path, which I followed into the garden... I had a sense of immense distances that could not possibly fit within the confines of the wall...

As I progressed beyond a grove of trees, I came to a clearing where a group of of attractive young folks were playing some game that I couldn't understand. They beckoned me to come and play with them. I hesitated at first, but then thought, "Why not? I seem to be invited". I played for a while with them and the game kind of fell into place... All you had to do was to, um, Dance with the Life in the garden and make it grow - there were certain dance steps. Well... "dance steps" isn't exactly the right description. How about, "Songs?" No... that's not it either. "Lovesongsteps?" Maybe that's sort of it but not all of it, since it has to do with the the mushrooms and tiny crawly things and sunshine and green stuff and water and getting them to dance together with us. Anyway, you know what I mean. It was surprisingly easy! (Unless you think about it). A table nearby held a bowl of fruit, obviously from the trees overhead, but now quite reachable. My new friends beckoned me to go ahead and help myself. "Why not?" I thought...



It has been a while since I entered the Secret Garden, although there doesn't appear to be any passage of time. There is never a lack of things to do... Lin and Ais and Gwyd and Sand and the rest never seem to run out of ideas. They say they've been waiting for me... They said it was because I bothered to talk to the rocks and the mosses and the bees and the flowers. You can never tell who will notice something like that. They say I can leave any time I want to. I can still see the Gate off in the hazy distance, but it seems to be getting farther away. Besides, they said that if I leave, I may be surprised by what I see out there. I believe them...