Fair Daffodils

[poliphilo]

 It was a day when it was quite pleasant to be outside so I planted all my remaining bulbs. The daffodils I planted last year are all in flower- so I reckon bulbs must like me; I certainly like them.

Daffodils in particular.

There's a poem I learned as a child that begins, "Fair daffodils we weep to see/ You haste away so soon." It's by Robert Herrick. Dear Robin Herrick- the Caroline clergyman with the pagan bent! (Though he also wrote "Divine numbers" they are much less convincing). I suspect we all feel that way about daffodils. They come so early- and are so welcome- and then they fade away. I'm not an outwardly emotional person but I weep inwardly.

Another thing I did was hang up all our solar-powered lights. It was good to watch them spark up in the gloaming and then phase from red to blue to green...

Comments

[cmcmck]

I love Herrick's work!



Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best, which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

[poliphilo]

He's undervalued I think. The Victorians loved him, whereas the moderns preferred his metaphysical contemporaries