A Gothic Library

Two nights ago, I dreamed I was moving to a city further south, except it was a mythical city, my recurrent one. It was perhaps just temporary since in my dreams I always get so anxious when I find myself far away from my beloved Lofoten. We lived in a flat with many windows and bookshelves and a view over the sea. We decided to occupy the main room only since it was big enough for the both of us, the bedrooms would be for visitors. There was a big garden where our girls could run free. At the back of the flat there was a room where one wall was just a big bay window and on the other side was the same room but belonging to our neighbour. It reminded me of the inner courtyards we find in traditional Chinese and Japanese neighbourhoods. Strangely enough, I always loved the idea but of course, it works only if you're lucky to have kind and lovely neighbours. The thing is... it was probably the case. Soon, we went for a stroll in the city and we found out that everybody living there tried to do their best. Everybody cultivated "something". The place was filled with art and beautiful architecture. There was love and attention put in every little detail, as if all the inhabitants had all the time in the world (which they do). There were permanent and temporary exhibitions everywhere. There was an exhilarating rush of creativity and the people loved this place so much they constantly came with great ideas to make it ever better. It was like the so-called New Jerusalem, but it has in fact many names. Last night, I dreamed I was tired and weary (which I am) and took shelter in ... a gothic church. There were no saints on the walls of this very quiet and beautiful gothic church, there were only books, thousands of them. I was using a ladder to explore the shelves but I got tired and slipped and nearly fell, but the church library smoothed my fall. The entire building was protecting me, nothing could reach me here, this was a sacred place of learning and meditation, a no man's land where we don't have to be anyone, nor wear a mask, we are free to just absorb all this precious food for our souls. It is true I've been finding solace in books lately. I found out I could easily fly from one shelf to another. A woman priest came in, I apologised since I was not supposed to be here, I'm not even a Christian, I said I was very tired. She just smiled sympathetically and said "it's allright".