When we were at the monatery several weeks ago, we noticed that in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, at the end of February, the daffodils were already blooming. When I return to Richmond, however, it took at least ten more days for the daffodils in my garden to nose their way out of the ground, spring up and then wave their yellow blossoms as a grand "hello" to the sun. So it was yesterday, working in the garden, that I stooped low to take this picture and share with you these harbingers of spring (along with the pussy willows). And, of course, while looking that them, I couldn't but remember Wordsworth's lovely poem.

"Daffodils" (1804)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

I WANDER'D 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 stretch'd 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.