The title from my blog comes from a place I was taken to in Rome that forever caught in my imagination: the garden of the Maltese brotherhood. A native of Rome walked us up through a beautiful neighborhood on the Aventine hill, one of those surrounding the city; she was very mysterious..not letting on where we were going..she tended to be like this.
We never actually entered the garden, merely peered through the keyhole in the garden gate, a keyhole with the classic bell-shaped hole of a lock that would open with a skeleton key.
What do you see when you peer in? A long vista of hedges, cut precisely in the design of the hole, that seems to somehow stretch to infinity, like one of those infinity pools you see in upscale architectural magazines. Very surreal. And at the end of the vista--lined up and framed perfectly by the keyhole and matching hedges? St. Peter's Dome. The Vatican.
Just amazing to me the artistry, the thought put into creating this singular view--and preserved all these years. The human spirit can be remarkable when it isn't busy destroying itself. My desire is to be this thought provoking, but I'm not sure if I will ever accomplish that.
I found several images of the keyhole, but I decided not to post, to just let the idea settle blurrily in the dreamscape of imagination--much more decadent that way.
ReplyDeleteThe cover of an Agata Kristi album (one version, anyway) also reminds me of this memory.
ReplyDelete"The human spirit can be remarkable when it isn't busy destroying itself. My desire is to be this thought provoking, but I'm not sure if I will ever accomplish that."
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful notion/aim!