The changing seasons ....

Last year we had swathes of snowdrops but due to the work we had done, they are not so plentiful this year. I guess they will bounce back when they find their feet in the new arrangement of the garden. But we still have some lovely clusters just appearing. In the background to the right, you can see the shape of Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy and Unconditional Love, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. She’s not the prettiest Kuan Yin I’ve ever seen, but a nice reminder as we pass her.

No snow yet, but the storms in this little piece are appropriate.


TO A SNOWDROP

Lone flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

William Wordsworth
1819.