Thoughts on William Wordsworth

This is a pot planted up with the prettiest of purple tulips. I find this photo does not do them justice. Each fall I try to plant up a couple of my empty terracotta pots with bulbs and put them in the shed to keep cool and dark but protected. Then as February comes around we see the tiny shoots coming up and, if the weather permits, they are then moved outside into the sunshine to encourage those shoots to grow. It is fun to do this each year. It also connects the autumn and spring seasons together in a special way. Maybe next autumn, you too can plan to give yourself a bit of Dutch color by planting up some bulbs in this way?

I want to share a poem with you that I found moving as we see the weather changes around the world. My mother is getting the weather ~cold, wind and rain ~ we normally have at this time of year in Holland. We, on the other hand have her normal warmth and sunshine with dry weather. Was William Wordsworth ahead of his time when he wrote "Lines Written in Early Spring"? Judge for yourself and if you would like leave me a comment about your own thoughts on this.....

"I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And 'tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure: --

But the least motion which they made,

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature's holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?"