As I was out delivering parish news and prayers I was struck by the beauty of the simple nodding daffodil. It's yellow brightened everything up and spoke of Spring and the warm welcome of the people of Wales.
With the news today of pubs, restaurants, cinemas, gyms, nightclubs and theatres having to close, made me think of the opportunity we all have to slow down and appreciate what is in our gardens and countryside, to make use of the quiet time positively.
Below is Wordsworth's famous poem The Daffodils which always makes me think of the freshness of Spring, the simplicity of daffodil and the need we all have to just stop panicking, fretting and trying to constantly help others, when we need to make space to concentrate, for a while, on ourselves and our relationship with God - and with others.
Perhaps we can take this time of self isolation or social distancing, the restrictions now placed upon us, to discover a space in which we can "be" without social trappings.
Please do comment and share, if today you have manged a moment of calm and self reflection.
The Daffodils by William Wordsworth
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.
(Poems in Two Volumes, 1807)