書摘：《花園》序 Preface to Derek Jarman's "Garden", by HB

In 1986, on a springtime afternoon drive through Kent, searching for a bluebell wood to Super-8 for the film which would become The Garden, Derek suggested eating at the pilot Inn, Dungeness - renowned for serving 'Simply the finest fish and chips in all England'. Charmed by the landscape, we decided to visit the old lighthouse. Derek said: 'There's a beautiful fisherman's cottage here, and if ever it was for sale, I think I'd buy it.' As we neared the cottage, black varnished with bright yellow window frames, we saw the green-and-white 'For Sale' sign - the improbability of it made the purchase inescapable. The garden started accidentally: a sea-worn driftwood staff topped with a knuckle of beachcombed bone was used to stake a transplanted dog rose, and an elongated lowtide flint protected a seedling seakale from careless feet. Over the coming year more beachcombed treasures were added. Howard arrived at Prospect Cottage to photograph Derek in 1991. He was a keen plantsman and gave up London weekends to chauffeur Derek - via the nurseries of the south of England - to Prospect Cottage. With his collaboration the garden entered its second phases: the unexpected successes of new plants and bulbs, flint and scallop-shell edged beds, honey bees enclosed in a raised herb bed, and more seashore-rusted metal and wind-twisted wood. Slowly the garden acquired a new meaning - the plants struggling against biting winds and Death Valley sun merged with Derek's struggle with illness, then contrasted with it, as the flowers blossomed while Derek faded. Howard photographed the garden from his first visit. Derek's writing was completed in the last year of his life: on trips to the garden; in St Bartholomew's Hospital; and on a final holiday, to look at Monet's garden at Giverny. Dungeness is a magical location. When you visit, tread softly, for many choose to live here for the solitude and silence that once attracted Derek, and now holds me. Keith Collins (HB)