Daffodils

We had a moment as I passed

Fixed upon my troubles

Forgotten on the instant

Yellows kissed by setting sun

Gazing from a tended bed

This poem is based on a true event. I remember it well.

I was teaching as an overloaded adjunct at one college three long days a week in New England. I was finishing my second masters at two others the rest of the week. On those days I drove 90 miles one way for courses at one school, then took a train to the second school in the afternoons, before backtracking and driving home again. My wife was homeschooling our four kids and though it was the best choice for us, I was both exhausted and cash strapped. My stress levels felt like an oncoming stroke.

One evening, just as spring temperatures had turned the Northeast tolerable, I was heading home from teaching. My window was open. The sun was setting and throwing a blaze across the fields just awaking from their winter's sleep, but I was mostly insensible to it. We needed money. I needed a break. I had paper to grade, others to write, exams to take and others to give. Then I saw them. One stone walled front garden had blossomed with the golden beauty of early daffodils and the setting sun had as its last act of that day, set them ablaze with light. They took my breath away. All was right with the world.