Daniel Tremblay

As I step out of the grand Palais Versailles I see a vast garden, the great garden of Versailles. The enormous hedges and flowerbeds stretch before me creating a labyrinth. I think about how to find my way through and I wonder if this is how they invented the hedge maze. Although the large stone statues look cold and lifeless, I see them posing in a position to be admired. A marble carved vase would normally be empty for the winter but it is brimming with flowers. The fountain is what I imagine God would drink from as his angels fan out from the brim.

As I look again at the garden my mind wanders to the time of the king. I imagine myself as Louis XIV strutting about on one of my weekly walks through my fabulous garden. I can hear my royal subjects tramping along behind me like dogs following their master. As I see ducks fluttering in a pond I blink. They appear again but I imagine royal guards walking by the pond and lords and ladies of the land talking to each other as they slowly make their way toward the palace. I am spellbound in this magical garden.