Sunday, April 24, 2005

A Garden

I entered into a garden, all tangled and gnarly. A vague path, overgrown, only loosely marked – “no fucking directions” someone probably remarked. Three witches told us to go down that path. Since when did men take directions from anybody – let alone women!

So, a no-path pathway, and no-one, not even the wise witches, could tell us what we would encounter on that path.

I watched various men tackle this path. I saw grinding, burning, slashing, tearing, stomping, heaving, toiling, tearing, breaking, destroying – and that was great – except that not one came back to give any bloody directions.

I could hear them holler, ‘Come on through, its great, but watch out for…’ and the call of some bird (or was that a witch?) would lead to their voices being lost to me.

Well, to join them, I obviously had to beat my own path through. The garden was tenacious and rapidly grew over other paths – besides, the witches forbade others following the same path. So, I made my way – into the garden.

I was troubled by the violence that I saw in that garden. I saw that men had fought animals and plants, they had tackled the garden in no uncertain terms. Shit, it looked like they had been battling demons – a killing field.

I wished that there might be some other garden – but I realised that there was none. However, more than that, I realised that this garden was a great place. Yes, there was danger and even evil (to my eyes at least – maybe that is important to note), but there was also Life.

Life – be it plant or animal (of course, including man), is a state that creates conflict. Each life in the garden seeks to organise raw elements in its own way. There is chaos, but through it all, there is incredible organisation and vitality.

The garden is for picnics – but it is also for carnivorous feasts. So beware, but more importantly, be aware, and most important of all, just bee there - to drink the honey.

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