Lay for the Day 1st March

The feast of St David, patron saint of Wales. The daffodil, the Welsh national flower, is often worn to mark the occasion.

From the book of Praises:

3. Of the Daffodils

That start from the cool bark-like glaze
of your broad-shouldered vase,
brilliant, silent, giving
as the sun, so densely gathered
that they picture.

A modest spray of mimosa,
soon-withered, sets them off,
the fringed leaves folded flat
like palms, the gold dots dustier
and heavier.

Translucent yellow hilarity
without malice, fanfare
without pomp, and sexual
openness entire and guileless –
immaculate:

how, though one by slender one
from the sodden humus
you declare your solar
loyalty, the singly stated
is perfect chorus.

John Gibbens, from Collected Poems

The Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar