The Land of Colour

Picture of Orangerie at gardens of Versailles from wikipedia:

Louis XIV was a king who loved the outdoors and the land.

He created beauty with his landscape designer, Le Notre, over the

years at the gardens at Versailles with their magnificent designs,

fountains, parterres and flower displays.

He was also inclined to sometimes work in his gardens when time

permitted and befriend his gardeners and workers. The Marquis of

Dangeau often reported on the activites of the king and would make

note of these occasions, e.g. one year at Christmas the king set about

planting in his gardens and pruning his Indian Chestnut trees at the Trianon

in the New Year and working industriously for most of the

day. These are rare glimpses of the king which have been recorded

in the book “The Sun King's Garden” by Ian Thompson. (A wonderful

and favourite book for the magnificent pictures and illustrated colour plates.)

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles was built to face west and capture the beauty of

the setting sun and the magnificent colours which would have been

reflected over the landscape:

The magnificent 17^th century is called “Le Grand Siecle”

described as “The Splendid Century” in the title of the book by W H Lewis,

who was a brother of C E Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia:

The Land of Colour

The land of colour

A man of the earth

• a mystery be:

As the king was wont to be;-

I want to dance with the fishes in a golden sea

Sing with the angels in the land of the free

Visit Giverny in the Spring,

The colours, paintings of Claude Monet

Seeing life in a different way;

The light and laughter of a thousand years

Walk in the spaces of the kings and their peers;

A spiritual love not always seen

Louise de la Valliere and her king;

Reims Cathedral in its golden light

An inspiration for those who see

And Joan of Arc who brought them

to their knees;

To march through life to a golden beat;

Mont St Michel and its gleaming sea

Beauty, spirituality, majesty be-

And the bubbles in a crystal glass overflow for me;

Imagination/inspiration

The land for me;

A place I always would like to be;

I want to dance to the magic of a different beat;

See life and its images from a different street;

Seek goodness and mercy for the days of my life

Finding life fullsome in God's given sight;

A wonderful earth in its glory and might;

Wandering around Paris

on a sunny afternoon

Seeking out the places

where the flowers do bloom

Coloured little awnings

and my heart does yearn:

Chasing rainbows from a different shore:

Searching for answers of a life before:

Green leaves fluttering by the River Seine

Swirling and twisting,

Once a King's Domain

A sign that some things stay the same;

I call out to the Parisian gods upon their throne

“Why was there a revolution in your home?”

Beauty in statues, costumes,

architecture too;

A masked ball in a Marble Hall

visit the sights at Les Halles:

some things always do last

glimpsed through a prism of the past:

The colours of the landscape never dim with time

Paintings and musings by the river bank

The Sun and the Moon will always glance back;

shining forth light, energy,

serenity

and beauty sublime; -

on wonderful Paris in May Spring-time;

A stream of many colours sweeps a distant vine

glorious crimson colours in a sunset chime

indigo, yellow, gold and crimson wine

Enhanced by chestnut trees and the fragrant pine;

A ray of sunshine beckons from a distant time;

A song of love and hope plays across the fields

Patterned by the moon light of a thousand yields:

I heard it through the grape-vine of a thousand years

Echoes in the distance for all to hear

Lifted ever so sweetly which the breezes bear;

Through the mists of Carcassonne and the early morning dew

never so firmly planted and the life we knew

Down through the valleys and mountains too

the beauties of nature sing life anew:

the wonders of nature all day through-

A song of the sparrows in a sun blessed land;

And sea-birds wheel and cry as they take flight,

gliding so gracefully over sea-shore and sand:

Winging their messages of joy in a sky blue refrain:

Romans set their standards, planted vines

In the beautiful countryside, its contours and lines,

Built their houses, settled in old time Gaul

land of colour, beauteous wonder for the soul,

the earth, the soil and all to behold

land of people, the Franks and their gold;s

and the people came “par-ici”

“By this way”

Came to say: “Parisi!”

A Land of Many Colours,

Thy Destiny: