I wandered lonely as a cloud
William Wordsworth (1802)
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.
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A Beautiful Spring Day
inspired by a beautiful spring day
mws
I caught the Max to campus
with an iced chai, I found a spot surrounded
by the quiet of the campus courtyard
soaking in the silence, I began listening
and writing words in my journal
abruptly, the quiet became chaos
as students poured out of classrooms
now surrounded by every size, shape, color
of student and backpack imaginable
conversations exploded everywhere,
gossip, tales from last night and laughter.
then gently, peace and quiet returned
as everyone moved on to their next period.
and in this quiet I wondered,
how many saw the daffodils? -
There is no normal
There is no normal. I’ve never met a normal person. The concept is flawed. It implies that there is only one way people are supposed to be, and that can’t possibly be true. Human experience is far too varied.
Maureen JohnsonSo, are we each abnormally normal?