4 SEPTEMBER 1964, Page 26

Abbaye de Senanque

On the hilltop at Gorde, commandingly surveying a valley, are the houses of an abandoned village: the outward civilised structure contains emptiness.

Nearby, the road furtively descends to a forested valley : almost submerged among pines, wild olives and oaks, is an abbey where the monks still live an ordered life.

Who regards exposure as liberty?

Obscure among the pines, insects are free. While the monks at Senanque sell liqueur, wind and sun call at the houses at Gorde.

ZULTIKAR CHOSE