New Year‘s Day is a wonderful time for cultivating the imagination because it is quiet.
I began my day by looking at flowers; the Rose Parade floats and saw citrus trees on my morning walk and was reminded of this quote.
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
In the background, is Das Liede von der Erde, by Gustav Mahler. ‘The Song of the Earth,’ six movements, for two singers, set to seven ancient Chinese poems that describe nature’s earthly beauty and transience. His ‘greatest symphony,’ written during one of the most difficult periods of his life, unfolds a musical journey through riverbanks and flowerbeds, shady trees and changing seasons.
I listen and go on a journey of my own.
Mahler’s symphony explodes into color, as does my journey through a great many gardens of the world.
Gardens or this type of nature predate us. Plants altered the planet's landscape, their flowers developed color to attract insects, and pollination eventually produced the fruit that kick-started the evolution of primates and eventually, us.
We cannot exist in a world without gardens. We literally were not meant to. Governments and industries are now drafting agreements to rein in temperature increases and regulate carbon emissions. Planting gardens on sidewalks in Paris and over garbage dumps in Tel Aviv. Turning a new leaf with the New Year. Starting fresh.
Empress Elizabeth of Austria is rumored to once have said: “If you are ever sad if life is cruel with you, seek refuge in nature. It will never disappoint you.” A bouquet of fresh flowers; a sweet, ripe, strawberry; the smell of orange blossoms in May, an afternoon reading in the shade of a fig tree, looking up to a blue sky. It does not take international conferences and awareness campaigns, or the dwindling sound of Mahler’s mandolin to make us realize that this is our battle too.
There is much we can do, much we should do. Let us install LED lamps and recycle wine bottles, buy hybrid vehicles and turn down the air conditioners, close the faucet and switch off the light. Starting fresh.
But before we do, let us hear the music through. Then let us go outside, and plant a garden. As big or small as we like, and as English or French as we feel. In our backyards or vegetable plots, up our walls or rooftops, on our balconies or window sills. Of no particular use, and for no particular reason than because it is beautiful. Let us inundate the world with gardens.
Happy New Year and here’s to starting fresh.
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