Fra Giovanni's
"Letter to a Friend"
I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy! Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! . . . And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away."Letter to a Friend" by Fra Giovanni, 1513 This letter was written by Franciscan Fra Giovanni on Christmas Eve 1513 to his friend the Countess Allagia degl’Aldobrandeschi, then living in Florence. The letter was recited during the 2007 Christmas Revels production by the character of Elizabeth I.
Original artwork made with gouache, watercolor, walnut ink and gold leaf By Cari Ferraro, 199414 x 20 offset printGold frame with cream matte