Learning a Lesson from Daffodils

To Daffodils

by Robert Herrick

Fair daffodils, we weep to see

     You haste away so soon;

As yet the early-rising sun

     Has not attain'd his noon.

          Stay, stay

     Until the hasting day

          Has run

     But to the even-song;

And, having pray'd together, we

Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,

     We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

     As you, or anything.

          We die

     As your hours do, and dry

          Away,

     Like to the summer's rain;

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,

Ne'er to be found again.

I can't read Herrick's lovely poem without wanting to include an addendum to it.  Its melancholy conclusion reminds me of Psalm 103:15-16:

The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

"But no!" my heart exclaims.  "That's not the end of the story!"

Wrapped around those doleful words are beautiful, life-giving affirmations.  The verses that precede the mournful thoughts are these:

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

And then we read:

The life of mortals...

Immediately after that heavyhearted section, our spirits rise with this encouragement:

But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children--
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

 When I see daffodils in these early days of spring, I have a few choices.  Do I think only of the bright cheer they lend to the still-a-bit-dreary earth?  Do I mourn the brevity of the daffodils' blooming season and wish they could be around for longer?  Or, more meaningfully, do I reflect upon the lesson learned from the poem of Herrick and the musings of the Psalmist and pause to thank God for His compassion and faithfulness?

I choose Option C.