I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vale 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 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.
--By William Wordsworth
These flowers were just beginning to bloom. Thousands more will open up in the following weeks. This is Gibbs Garden in North Georgia. It was a fabulously sunny Valentines Day after weeks of gray and rain. I have sometimes felt as Wordsworth's poem--down and sad and lonesome--and the sight of daffodils has cheered me. Really. They are like the promise of spring and better things to come.
