Interlude: A Madeleine in the Shape of a Song

Remembrance of painfully wondrous journeys past

Columbe e Cinquento. Photo: Sara Valentini Fine Art Photography

A happenstance song. Suddenly from the depths come sweeping memories of a soul whose secret garden I could have tended. I’m am confident I could have done so. Not perfectly, yet with genuinely deep love and care. Because I am a human being… it’s a part of my nature… our nature to nurture. Lord as my witness… I gave it my best.

There were moments when I think I was almost allowed in. What darknesses lay within? I believe nothing darker than what may lie within any of our souls. I was perceived as not safe enough. Fair enough. It is not my choice to open the door of another’s fortress.

I wish them well in their travels: May they be content. May they be free from suffering. Maybe they be at peace with what comes.

She'll lead you down the path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
And she'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden

Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away

—Secret Garden, Bruce Springsteen