Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Garden of Truth and Beauty

I forgot how it all began. Hmm ....

Ah. I have it now. One day, I received a notice from the classical music group. It was written in very fine language which I can't recall or imitate, but the gist was something like this:

“Hi all, this group has been dormant for a long time. I am setting up a new group called Classical Music Aficionados and hopefully we will be able to start holding many fun activities. You're welcome to my new place, called the Truth and Beauty Assembly in Taedong.”

Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I followed the directions on the notice. Everything went dark for a moment; I thought I saw a colored progress bar appear in front of me; however, by now the experience of teleporting to unknown places was routine to me. Now I could see again; I felt gravity pulling on my body again as I rezzed into the new area, and objects started appearing all around me, grey at first, gradually acquiring color and coming into focus.

I looked around. I was in a garden, surrounded by lush greenery. A beautiful secluded garden with trees in various shades of green, leafy branches gently swaying in the wind, protecting it from the rude world outside. On the grass were a few cream-colored benches, as if placed thoughtfully for the benefit of visitors, but not unnaturally .... not intruding upon the peace and calm of the garden. [very badly written --- need to fix] I wandered around in awe, and soon realized that the garden was quite small---about the size of a tennis court---and that it was surrounded by four walls, cleverly painted to resemble a forest stretching in all directions as far as the eye could see. I marveled at the unknown person who had created all this. Or was it not the work of a person?

Against one of the walls was a fountain, a sheet of water cascading gently down a marble mosaic [inlaid picture---need to find out what such a thing is actually called] into a square pool at the foot of the mosaic, fed by some invisible magic. There are many strange and powerful magics in our world; I have some idea about the direct magic, the type that flows out through a limb of our body and commands things to move about, but I have yet to learn about the magic that can be infused into inanimate objects and manifests itself even in the absence of the one who invoked it. ... But back to my story. On either side of the fountain was a white-colored notice board. Why, I wondered, did someone stick up whiteboards in the middle of a garden like this? As I stared at the board on the left, it seemed to shimmer, and words began to come into view. At last my confused eyes were able to decipher them:

Sonnet

I know not how or why the soul does search
for kindred hearts in lands it cannot see ...

I gazed at the magical words. They seemed to be calling out to something within me. But my attention was distracted by a gap in the wall to the left of the poetry-board. I realized that there was a path of red tiles leading out from the garden. It was framed by two wooden posts, with a banner strung between them, reading:

SLOW!
You are entering another sim.

Again, curiosity got the better of me. I stepped gingerly through the archway formed by the posts and the banner, the border between Taedong and Maemi. I walked up a grassy slope, and when I got to the top I saw a lovely house --- a house I could only dream of having myself. I was tempted to enter and explore, but stopped out of reverence for the owner. There was an atmosphere of peace which I could not bring myself to disturb. There was the sound of rushing water, and some beautiful music being played by some invisible hand. [badly written, must fix] I sat down on the grass and closed my eyes to listen.

Suddenly I heard light footsteps treading on the grass, barely audible. I started up and looked around. I was just in time to see a young woman stepping down the grassy slope to the path leading to the garden.





“Hey!” I called out. “Excuse me ...”

The young woman turned around and greeted me. She was short and slender, dressed elegantly in a black sleeveless top and a matching skirt.

“Hi, I'm Catherine,” I said. “I hope you didn't mind me being in your garden.”

“You're very welcome here! I'm Tyrol,” she said. Or something like that. I don't remember what words she used.

“Tyrol? ... Oh, it must have been you who sent out the notice to our group! How nice to meet you!”

That was my first encounter with Tyrol Rimbaud.

No comments: