A rainy afternoon in Durham …

I spent part of this afternoon wandering through Duke Gardens. Spectacular, even in the rain.

Spring is emerging, bud by bud, leaf by leaf.

On my drive over to the gardens, I was listening to Bruce Cockburn’s new, just simply gorgeous new live album, Slice O Life.

I highly recommend it. If you’re a Bruce fan, drop what you’re doing and go buy it. If you’re not a Bruce fan, you should be. And if you’re never heard him live and acoustic, this is as close as you’ll get to the real thing.

The first song on the double-album is Bruce’s 1985 tune,”World of Wonders.” You can hear it accompanying some of my photographs from today at the Duke Gardens.

The lyrics stop me in my tracks each time, drawing my attention to all that surrounds me. The wonder. The whimsy. The Hand of grace.

Here’s how Bruce puts it:

stand on a bridge before the cavern of night
darkness alive with possibility
nose to this wind full of twinkling lights
trying to catch the scent of what’s coming to be (in this…)
world of wonders…
somewhere a saxophone slides through changes
like a wet pipe dripping down my neck
gives me a chill–sounds like danger
but i can’t stop moving till i cross this sector (of this…)
world of wonders…
there’s a rainbow shining in a bead of spittle
falling diamonds in rattling rain
light flexed on moving muscle
i stand here dazzled with my heart in flames (at this…)
world of wonders…
moment of peace like brief arctic bloom
red/gold ripple of the sun going down
line of black hills makes my bed
sky full of love pulled over my head
world of wonders…
— Toronto, 6/1985

If you’d like to see the still photographs from my rainy afternoon, click HERE.