Heroes Not Zombies

The Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh has been a place of wonder for me for many, many years. As a student I lived within walking distance of the gardens and would take my Medical textbooks there to study. Throughout my life I’ve returned there, and although many parts are familiar it has constantly changed. I’ve never walked there without stopping several times to gaze in wonder at some astonishing plant.

I’m a great fan of “l’émerveillement du quotidien” – the wonder of the everyday – it’s one of my most favourite strategies for a happy, healthy life, and I know of nothing more likely to astonish me than Nature.

I took this photo the other day and I find it both breath-taking and entrancing, so I thought I’d share it with you.

As I gazed on this scene, this poem, by Yeats, came into my head –

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,   
Enwrought with golden and silver light,   
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths   
Of night and light and the half light,   
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;   
I have spread my dreams under your feet;   
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.