Saturday, November 17, 2012

Daffodils

 Read by Jeremy Irons 



==============================

For My Mother

We had a large, circular driveway in Marshall, Virginia which was encompassed by Daffodils in the springtime. A beautiful sight to behold.

 
 
I WANDER'D 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 stretch'd 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.

1 comment:

  1. Every single day at my advanced age, with its diminished strength, I read these lines, also from Wordsworth:

    "Though nothing can bring back the hour
    Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
    We will grieve not, rather find
    Strength in what remains behind;"

    As long as I turn on this machine and a new posting of Free North Carolina comes up, the American Republic and the Glorious Confederacy are not yet dead.

    And by the way. Not all of my heroic Founders were from Virginia. Read Sam Adams, of Massachusetts, he's a lot more than just a good ale. He was also a Harvard graduate. Can you believe it? He said:

    "It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
    Samuel Adams

    Set brushfires of Freedom. Resist.

    Horace Smith
    =================
    Dern, I do love this yankee Sam Adams.

    "The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."
    Samuel Adams

    Horace Smith
    ==============
    Ah, the last lines from Splendor in the Grass, one of my favorite movies. And yes, we shall strive on, come what may.

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