Monday, September 22, 2008

Secret Gardens with Magic Doors

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This is the magic keyhole mentioned in the title of this dog, whoops, I meant blog, jeez, I used to get "dog" and "god" confused, as each is the other spelled backwards, but now I have to reckon with "dog" and "blog", well I'll be flogged... let's start again....

This is the magic keyhole mentioned in the title of this blog, and this is one sort of photograph I love making, simple, but full of powerful provocation for the imagination . . .

Look closely at how the rust is eating away the metal plate of the keyhole, can you see the seahorse? Rust, oxydation, simple action of water bearing oxygen uniting with iron molecules in the metal alloy that some human labored so industriously to fabricate a hundred years ago or more, thinking it would last forever, but now it is rusting away. And the texture in the flaking paint is lovely too, the magic door once was blue... and the remaining paint on the metal plate has been stained the color of rust...

What was it Neil Young said about "Rust Never Sleeps" ; or "There's more to the picture than meets the eye...", in the same song ? Or Joan Baez : "We both know what memories bring... they bring diamonds and rust"

But what I really like here is the slightest glimpse of sunlight on greenery through the magic keyhole, through the looking glass, as it were, hinting of a secret, well hidden grove behind the stout wood door set in a high stone wall... who lives there ? What goddess waits within ? Something straight out of a John Fowles story, a muse hiding in the trees, waiting to be coaxed into existence... and here is the whole door... it hasn't been opened in ages... isn't it tempting... I love the way the stone at the foot of the door has weathered a dark forest green... which reminds me of what follows below, a song with roots in traditional folk music which Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel made famous ... just step through the door :


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...............................................Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley sage rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine
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Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(A hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Tracing of sparrow On snow-crested brown)
Without no seams nor needlework
(Blankets and bedclothes The child of the mountain)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
(Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)
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Tell her to find me an acre of land
(On the side of a hill A sprinkling of leaves)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water And the sea strand
(A soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
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Tell her to reap it
With a sickle of leather
(War bellows blazing In scarlet battallions)
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause They've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

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(Not my photo, but don't know who did take it)

2 comments:

Lily Fields said...

I have an amusing...(horrifying at the time) story regarding the lyrics to this song...I was out on a first date with this dapper fella who I was quite attracted to...It was towards the end of the evening and this song comes on and I am singing.... "are you going to describe our affair...parsley sage rosemary and thyme." Now mind you I had always sang these lyrics...so the dapper fella metamorphosis’s into a complete monster jerk!! He says with a raised voice and in an accusing way...What did you say? and I said once again...Are you going to describe our affair ?....parsley sage rosemary and thyme....He said "Whatever made you think those were the lyrics? I replied. Well I thought it was a spicy affair....and he proceeds to rant on and on about how people shouldn't sing songs if they do not know the correct lyrics....and I say "are you being serious"...and he says..."you bet your sweet bippie I am"...and I said well can't you at least give me an inch on this? Can't you see why I thought these were the lyrics? And he said "absolutely not....and on top of it you cannot even carry a tune...you are one of those people who should only sing in the shower..." I just said okay....and he said “ well.. I am sure glad you see it my way now”....and i am thinking.. oh I do not see it your way. moron....I am just counting the minutes until this date is over....AND he said where do you want to eat...And I said well..certainly not at Scarborough Fair. And he says" Oooooooh, and she thinks she's funny too! I said…I really am not in the mood to get a bite to eat., I would just like to go home please….and he says…ooooh I see….you are just like every other girl….can't take a little criticism…” and I said you are absolutely right….so lets call it a night….and then Romeo tried to kiss me as I am exiting the car….and I said no way…. goodnight and thank you for the show…and please do not bother calling me again…we are just not compatible…and ran like the wind to my front door….and guess what? He did call me again….and then he came into the store where I worked…...and as sson as saw him...my mind was racing and I thought how am I going to get rid of him? and I told him I was thinking of becoming a nun….and he says….thought so….that’s why you wouldn’t kiss me….....oh man… he was scary…. Don't know if this is blog material or not...please excuse my ignorance/naïveté if it is not.

Lady Mondegreen's Secret Garden said...

Looking back in more ways than one, a bit of Janus in all of us, and here I am one Secret Garden visiting another and the Comment before me concerns a mondegreen!
Your photos are beautiful.