Daffodils

Daffodils always signal the coming of summer and the end of the dark winter days. It also reminds me of the poem, Daffodils, by William Wordsworth which was inspired by a springtime visit to Glencoyne Bay on the western shores of Ullswater. This is a beautiful area of the Lake District in England.

"Daffodils" (1804)

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 leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but 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.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

The above photographs were taken at the bottom of Airbles Road in Motherwell. As I was cycling up the hill I stopped and took some photographs of them.  

A previous article I wrote on Derwent Water in the Lake District can be read here. It gives an idea of how lovely the area is.