Hearts

– Hearts are of several kinds, and of widely different natures. First, there are walled-up hearts, and these are of two kinds; about one kind the wall is high and strong, and to surmount it is a work of extreme difficulty; but if you can get inside, you have entered Eden. Fragrant, and sweet, and fair as the vision seems in dreams is that enclosed garden, and it is worth hard labour to gain admission there. The other has a wall as high and strong, and full as hard to get over; and when at last, with torn flesh and dislocated joints, you have scaled it, you wish you hadn’t, for there is nothing inside but rocks and cold water. The trouble with these two descriptions of hearts is, that ‘tis impossible to distinguish the one from the other until you have almost worn yourself out in mounting the walls. Another kind of heart is that which, having nothing to fence it in, lies open to the passage of all men and cattle – a waste, unfruitful field, of no use to anybody and less to the owner. But there is another kind of heart – a rare creation, but a real one – whose wall is low and almost hid by flowers. The birds make their nest in it, and sing as they swing upon its swaying twigs and festooning vines. Beyond the wall, itself a thing of fragrance, beauty, and joy, lie the enchanting gardens. Delightful bowers* invite the way-worn traveller to enter and repose. Spirits of love and beauty beckon the sad and lonely ones to the feast of soul, and a charmed light and glory hover in the whole joyous air. This is the true type of heart.

DEFINITION
*Bower can mean: - A shaded, leafy recess; an arbour; a rustic cottage; a country retreat etc. (from Middle English bour, a dwelling, from Old English bur.)