Raph and Dafos

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
“Winter is dead.”
A.A. Milne, Daffodowndilly

Spring penetrates the marrow of our bones.

The sights, the smells, the sounds. The warmth.

What better icon than the daffodils–those early harbingers of spring? Wordsworth has them “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.” It’s as though they do a dance in our stead, expressing outwardly how we feel, or want to feel.

Winter is past; the snows are over and gone. We hope. We are ready to start again, once more. And nature leads the way.

I begin to realize, on a warm spring day, that these flowers are announcing a great truth. By a very deep magic, death gives way to life. There is always reason to dance.

“And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.”

A.A. Milne (1882-1956), an English author and poet, is best known for his Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Photo: In the Shenandoah Valley, March 15, 2016

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