One of the most influential people in my life is my high school journalism teacher, Beverle Kerns.

She encouraged me to write, and made me believe that I could do it. Bev sent me this poem today. I thought it was lovely and well needed. To look at small beauties – like daffodils – even in times of worry and stress, and rejoice in them.

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

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 besides 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 laughter fills,

And dances with the daffodils.