Daffodil

Early in the spring the variable winds and rains fall heavy on grass meadows, Adding a spring in the turf, waking the mosses on stone walls and stone paths Purple stems of woodspurge hang in the wet winds with its pale green flowers, Ancient orchards left unattended have gnarled twisted trees with sour apples, These grounds are bestrewed with the whitest of violets, a carpet of beauty. But there are other flowers that have been out in colder, hard bitter weather The humble daffodil has been plucked and strewed by children for generations, A beautiful old English flower which belongs in village gardens and commons, The old daffodil is one the hardiest flowers it grows anywhere and everywhere, In box hedges, neglected arbours of alleys, hard rugged moorlands and glades. Daffodils in desolation grow long after the planters hand has turned to dust, Buried deep in disused graveyards, overgrown with nettles and thorny bushes And dwellings around it have fallen to decay with passing of many hard years, Even the other flowers that have grown nearby have been cleaned, swept away, Outlasting memories that have perished along with families of old homesteads,