Monday, April 6, 2009

::

“Gradually she became aware of the moon daisies and the scent of the lime
flowers that were just beginning to blossom. Today’s sunshine, after rain in the
night, was bringing it out. She turned round and looked up at the bunches of
pale green, not unlike her vine flowers. The scent too was not unlike though the
scent of the vine flowers was delicate and this was strong and powerful as the
vibrating hum of the bees who were gathering the honey. The sunshine, striking
down in rods of light through the ceiling of green leaves, was gold as that
honey. There was goodness here, in scent and sound and splendour of light, and
if it gave no explanation of man’s tragedy it gave reassurance."

from The Scent of Water
by Elizabeth Goudge
(p.144)

5 comments:

Leah said...

A wonderful quote...

Melissa said...

Nobody says it like Elizabeth Goudge. The descriptions of a moment in time and place are my first favorite thing about her writing. The second is the inside look into the heart and mind of a character as he (she) learns to accept his (her) circumstances and to love people. It's amazing to me how a fictional portrait can inspire me to greater love, acceptance, and beauty. But it does. Keep the quotes coming!

Love you--
M.D.

miss a said...

Kat,

Thank you for reminding me with a delicious E. Goudge quote. I do love her so! And it inspires me to run to the UGA library, yummy 7 stories, with rows and rows of books,and that old book smell, and go check out a new Goudge novel to enjoy for the spring. Your sweet Mama gave me Scent of Water and the UGA library has an huge selection of her books to choose from. Maybe I'll walk thru the Founder's Garden on campus too, it is very Goudge-ish, as well. I'll send you some photos so you can see what I mean, a visual field trip of sorts. . . . As always, thank you for your inspiration. I'll send you a real letter soon of my latest adventures.
Love you so much too! miss a:)

Kat said...

Oh, Miss A. That library sounds wonderful. You know how I would love to visit it. And a garden? I would love to see pictures sometime. Thank you for saying hello. :)

Charity Grace said...

That's one of my favorite Goudge books ever. In fact, I need to order a copy of my own!!! The original one I read is my mom's...