Christine Alfery

I Come to the Garden Alone

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I Come to the Garden Alone, 20 x 60
Giclee on paper 
Original watermedia on paper 

Featured image in blog, The Garden
Featured in blog, Visions

Artist statement:

Every morning starting in May – October I make myself a cup of coffee and walk into my garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses. The garden for me is just as creative a project at any painting could be.  The peace it shares with me when the dirt is fresh and wet in the spring, through the blossoms of flowers throughout the summer until the last leaf turns brown in the fall is always with me.
 
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear
Falling on my ear
The song of God discloses
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am his own
And the joy we share
As we tarry there
None other has ever known
He speaks and the sound
Of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody
That He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing
And He…

The Garden

When I lived in England, my home was a row house in the middle of a bunch of other row houses, with the saddest little plot of grass—at most 10x10—in the front and a brick-paved space in the back, allowing for a tiny backyard or front yard to play in.

But I was fortunate. There was a huge English garden right across the street from our house, so when I was home from an English girls' boarding school, I could wander the very cultivated paths. There were places to play cricket, tennis, soccer, or simply sit and read.

My favorite spot was two sitting benches, and in between them stood a large stone monument with a poem written in 1913 by Dorothy Frances Gurney, called God's Garden. I have always loved this poem. I used to sit on those benches and find peace there. I even have a plaque with this poem written on it in my own garden.

“The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is closer to God’s Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.”