Chapter 2 - Part 2 - The Heart of the Garden

The main path led into the garden straight ahead for a bit and then came to a circle. In the center of this circle was a circular flowerbed with an old bronze fountain in the center. The fountain was still flowing but just barely. The algae hung off the sculpture in long gross strings, strangling any cascade of water and masking the fountains appearance. The pool at the base of the sculpture had a soupy green consistency and smelled of rot and stagnation. The question was posed, “What shall we do here?” I replied, “Let me stop here and fix this before we proceed so the sound may bring joy to the rest of the garden.” I quickly found a bucket and drained the stagnant water from the fountain. I looked around for a place to refresh the fountain and clean it with fresh water. I found an old fashioned hand pump tucked into the landscape nearby. After pumping out some old rusty water that had sat in the pipes way too long, the pump gurgled and spat and then gushed forth pure clean water. In fact as I filled and refilled the bucket I found the purity of the well water quite remarkable. I carefully cleaned and scrubbed the fountain removing all the debris and slime. It was a stunning bronze sculpture of three graceful swans, wings arched back and heads positioned in such a way that they all aimed their water spouts directly up. Balanced on the outstretched wings of these graceful swans was an innocent child standing in a sort of ballet type stance reaching joyfully toward heaven seemingly caught in a moment of sheer joy. I thought how amazing this fountain must look when functioning properly, the child in complete harmony with the swans as he seemed to dance in their spray, water raining down around him. Now with the sculpture exposed and cleaned I felt anxious to fill the fountain and see it in proper operation. I pumped many buckets of pure clear water from the well and once I had filled the fountain to a proper level the pump gurgled a couple times and almost instantaneously the fountain exploded back to life. The sound of the cascading water seemed to sing out through the garden, echoing out across the whole valley. The weak flow I had found was now a mighty fountain, alive with joy and life and sound. “Much better,” the Spirit whispered, “Let us now venture further into your garden.”

At the fountain the garden path circled around and had four distinct paths heading in each of the directions of the compass, North, South, East, and West. We had just come from the South, where the garden gate and the shady lane were. We continued around the heart of the garden, the Fountain, and walked toward the North path about 20 feet or so. There were enormous hedges surrounding the Center, Heart Garden and Fountain with large arches carved out at each of the four paths.