Other than the fact that it seemed captivatingly poetic (which all good blogs are), "these orchard walls" is a thinly veiled (if not egregiously misquoted) reference to one of my favorite plays: Romeo & Juliet.
It comes from the (in) famous balcony scene where Juliet inquires:
"How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art".
To which, dear Romeo replies,
"With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do, that dares love attempt".
I adore that image of the orchard walls. The sense of mortal danger & reckless abandon.
Although I consider myself a hopeless romantic and eternal optimist when it comes to love, I think the image of the orchard walls (the stony limits) represent far more to me. Last week I was in a beautiful Episcopal cathedral listening to the sung liturgy and I noticed a labyrinth drawn out on the concrete floor near the back. The labyrinth, for those who don't know, is an ancient meditation apparatus in the Christian tradition. It's sort of like a maze, but with only a single path to follow. --A traveling prayer. You enter, travel as quickly or as slowly as you like, then you exit. Some say it purposefully knocks the rational mind off-balance and allows the heart to focus beyond the well worn paths of this world. I mention it because I resonate with the idea that we are not at the core earthly beings on a spiritual journey, but rather spiritual beings on an earthly journey. Labyrinth metaphors aside, I think my life is full of "stony limits", insurmountable obstacles that can cause much despair. Like Romeo, I think there's something to the idea that "love's light wings" are the stuff that makes walking the path possible. Danger closes in on us from every side and there's got to be something that keeps us attempting the impossible, defying the unknown, the risky, the sure-fail. I worry. That's one of my tragic flaws. But love, to me, is far more enabling than fear is disabling. "And what love can do, that dares love attempt". So here's to the orchard walls, and the life-long endeavor of never letting them stand in our way!
-WJZ
