Daffodils, William Wordsworth / 2007 Imagine/Align project

Every year the Imagine/Align project hails the coming of springtime in the University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum. A measure of global change is the date of the opening event; last year's 2006 reception was on April 24. Today's report from the field, from April Pickrel:

The daffodils are just starting to come up. There are several places
along the line that are making good progress. No blooms for a little
bit at least. I can't really make a good guess for how long it will be,
but I'd say a week or two. I'll keep an eye on them and keep you
posted!

Daffodils, William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

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.

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