Wordsworth's Daffodils

I had some unexpected free time this afternoon so, although it was overcast, as I was already near Ullswater, I thought I'd go along the lake to Glencoyne Bay to photograph the place which is believed to have inspired William Wordsworth.

I was making my way there when I noticed a gleam of light on the water so I stopped in the next lay-by. There was already a car there and got down onto the shore I found someone else with a camera and tripod. It was a photographer I knew, from Bristol! He was 250 miles from home and had ended up on the same couple of yards of shore as me. We had a chat about his family, who I know very well, and how his photo business was doing before we went our separate ways.

The daffodils were out in all their glory and there was certainly enough breeze to make them flutter and dance.

Daffodils

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.

William Wordsworth