Monday, April 27, 2009

The Daffodils




Sunday night we took Peter's father out for dinner and when we dropped him off I picked some of Peter's mother's daffodils in the dark, most of which were already all papery and dried up.
I remembered that when she was home summer before last, dying of breast cancer, all the daffodils were in bloom--they bloomed through the spring and into summer. I hadn't thought at the time how unusual to have daffodils in August.

(11x15 sheet)


Only a few more days of National Poetry Month and I have too many poems queued up ready to go!
The Daffodils
by William Wordsworth

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.

10 comments:

A Brush with Color said...

Oh, your daffodils are beautiful, too, Laura! Ours are already gone, and I miss them already. Ah, to have them in August! I've never seen that, but I've heard of some that supposedly bloom twice. How incredible. Love your flower paintings.

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Laura,

Beautiful paintings. I'm sorry about Peter's mother. Daffodils in August.
That was strange. We did have a very rainy summer, maybe that explains it.

This is one of my favorite poems, and I saw a hill covered with daffodils yesterday! So lovely.

Take care,

Barbara

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Beautiful paintings. We have some daffodils left but most are gone.

Unknown said...

beautiful paintings!

Mineke Reinders said...

What a wonderful post, Laura! Love the paintings, the story about daffodils in summer, and one of my favorite poems along with that. Thanks!

Elizabeth Seaver said...

How beautiful, Laura!

Anonymous said...

Laura, I love your daffodils. One of the things I really like about coming back to England is my small patio garden and my English shrubs and flowers....a far cry from the tropical blooms of Key West. We had about 100 daffs this year, a lot in a small space.i Also like your new look to your blog header...
Maggie

cathyswatercolors said...

You changed your header.... nice.
Since I love all of your paintings I think I may just start commenting on the colors in the painting that I love.
I love the blue at the base of the stem in the top left flower of the bottom painting.I also love the red on the tips of the flowers and the blueish shadow ( cobalt and perm rose?) on the petal of the the top daff.

Gail Bartel said...

Love the new header Laura and the daffodils...we still have some snow so we won't be seeing our daffodils for a few more weeks...oh the joys of Canada!
take care

Sherry Pierce Thurner said...

Daffodils are my sign of spring. Yours are tenderly beautiful. Do you ever read The Writers Alamack poem of the day? The one for yesterday was wonderful.