in the artificial                   sheltered       quiet       of the garden

time is suspended human cares lose their immediacy even art and history dissolve or show the reverse of their mask

at one time it seemed that they concealed a lofty secret later

that they were disguises born of the effort

to make sense out of what makes no sense

the garden                      we realize

that what the masks conceal

                                                              is only

life

though also

flowers of an imaginary garden

they are forms of life

now in this                    restricted garden                    which reduces everything 

                 to a simple                        fact                                 making no claims

paradise                  becomes a transitory                         concrete       reality