The First Daffodil of Spring

There is just something about the first daffodils of spring that make my heart beat a little bit faster. I watch eagerly for them each year. Earlier this week I dropped by a friend's house to pick something up, and we took the chance to visit. Dulcy lives in an enchanted cottage in a tiny wood in the middle of a smallish city. It's an old stone house with a red tin roof and a single room upstairs that feels like sleeping in a tree house. She and her husband, Jim, created a dream garden with huge Koi that I keep waiting to surface and offer me one wish. Her front yard is huge and full of trees. The ground between the trees is completely covered in purple crocus. Amazing!

Anyway, back to the daffodils... We were taking a stroll through Dulcy's yard, and I was telling her how eager I was for the first daffodil this year. She smiled her gorgeous smile and said, "They've bloomed. Look behind you." Just behind us, against a fence, was a bank of spring sunshine blooming in the grass. Ohhh!

Being the generous friend that she is, Dulcy went over and picked a handful for me. Being the stylish friend that she is, she took them inside, found a tiny bud vase and tied the vase with a ribbon. A simple yellow flower can bring such joy. There is a greater joy, a lifting of the tired heart that comes from a spontaneous, generous gift. One friend, reaching out to another. One heart, saying, "I see you. I know you." One posy, wrapped in so much more than ribbon.

Happy spring, and small handfuls of daffodils to you all.
Sursum Corda!

The daffoldils

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
Outdid 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.
~ William Wordsworth

The photograph above shows where my posy from Dulcy lives now. My bedside table is always a little picture of what's in my head at any given moment. It usually has a journal, a letter to write, several books, and some things I find beautiful. What's on your nightstand?