Assent
I spent a month in Paris touring museums in my miss spent youth. I also held onto a fascination with churches and cathedrals. The Basilica of the Sacre' - Coeur de Montmartre requires an assent that provides a view over the vast city in all it's splendor. I did it with hundreds of others and watched as the sun set, alone but content this experience would not leave me no matter where art may bring me in the future. I've often asked myself, why do we climb to the top of places, buildings, and landscape? The German painter Caspar Friedrich gave the exercise a spiritual dimension and for anyone with romantic inclinations his imagery tends to resonate.
Be that as it may I now am climbing to the Ferryland Lighthouse. There aren't hundreds with me, in fact I'm alone with nothing but a few curious foxes, and gulls screeching incoherent screeds at me. The lighthouse is locked and barred temporarily for tourists; what was once a lighthouse keepers residence has been converted to a tea room. However the breezeway is open and I know that suddenly there isn't a lot of difference between a church on a hill and a Lighthouse. Funny how one door closes and another opens.
Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS
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