The poet in lonely mood came suddenly upon a host of daffodils and was
thrilled by their joyous beauty. But delightful as the immediate scene
was, it was by no means the best part of his experience. For long
afterwards, when he least expected it, memory brought back the flowers
to the eye of his spirit, filled his solitary moments with thoughts of
past happiness, and took him once more (so to speak) into the free open
air and the sunshine. Just so for us the memory of happy sights we have
seen comes back again to bring us pleasure.
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.
_William Wordsworth._
[Illustration: FRANK L. STANTON]