Beryl's Blooms:

Now I know Spring is on it's way! While driving to work this morning, peeking out from under the groundcover, I saw a small but gloriously beautiful patch of daffodils. They are the golden banner that announces the end of winter. How many years have I delighted in their coming, in their fragrance, in their beauty?

Here, from William Wordsworth, is his 1804 poem entitled simply, "Daffodils." Dedicated to the Flower Charmer, my Aunt Beryl:

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.