Daffodils are everywhere! So glad to see these early signs of spring. My last post was an update during our February snow and bitter cold event. In the following weeks, spring has sprung here, and I have strolled around our property enjoying the budding bushes and the array of daffodils (along with a couple of tick attackers – we have to take the bad with the good, I guess). This time last year was quite different as we all were hunkered down in our own places, not knowing the extent of the pandemic and how long it would last. Times of uncertainty, change, and fear prevailed. Now, here we are, a year later. Hope is here once again just as hope springs eternal in nature.
Spring!
I thought to just share a poem or two with this post. This is a well-known one written by William Wordsworth. This is the one I think about when I walk out my door. Probably a favorite of many an English major. It was one of the first poems I ever taught to my sophomores all those years ago! I hope you enjoy the poem.
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
Just one more…
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) wrote this next one. She has an interesting biography that I hope you will read. In addition to being a poet, “she was a prominent abolitionist and temperance and women’s suffrage activist” who authored numerous books. Rather appropriate for Women’s History Month. “The Crocuses” truly captures the earliest appearances of their beautiful blossoms. I posted a picture on Facebook of our blooms March 3.
“The Crocuses”
They heard the South wind sighing
A murmur of the rain;
And they knew that Earth was longing
To see them all again.
While the snow-drops still were sleeping
Beneath the silent sod;
They felt their new life pulsing
Within the dark, cold clod.
Not a daffodil nor daisy
Had dared to raise its head;
Not a fairhaired dandelion
Peeped timid from its bed;
Though a tremor of the winter
Did shivering through them run;
Yet they lifted up their foreheads
To greet the vernal sun.
And the sunbeams gave them welcome,
As did the morning air—
And scattered o’er their simple robes
Rich tints of beauty rare.
Soon a host of lovely flowers
From vales and woodland burst;
But in all that fair procession
The crocuses were first.
First to weave for Earth a chaplet
To crown her dear old head;
And to beauty the pathway
Where winter still did tread.
And their loved and white haired mother
Smiled sweetly ’neath the touch,
When she knew her faithful children
Were loving her so much.
I truly am grateful to live in a part of the country where we can experience all the seasons – sometimes even within the same week! Happy spring!
P.S. I originally wrote this with the title “Dandelions in Bloom” and used the poem “Dandelions” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Fortunately, before I published this, I realized my pictures were of daffodils, so I had to default to Mr. Wordsworth.
Sources: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud; https://poets.org/poem/crocuses