Every spring
I hear the thrush singing
in the glowing woods
he is only passing through.
His voice is deep,
then he lifts it until it seems
to fall from the sky.
I am thrilled.
I am grateful.
Then, by the end of morning,
he's gone, nothing but silence
out of the tree
where he rested for a night.
And this I find acceptable.
Not enough is a poor life.
But too much is, well, too much.
Imagine Verdi or Mahler
every day, all day.
It would exhaust anyone.
― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings: Poems
The botanical illustration above shows a cluster of flowers from the Amaryllidacea family, consisting of (1) the Spring Snowflake or St. Agnes'-flower; (2) the Snowflake or Summer Snowflake, whose botanical name is derived from two Greek words signifying "a white violet"; (3) Narrow-leaved Snowflake or Autumn-flowering Snowflake; (4) the Rose-coloured Acis; (5) Cape Crocus: its botanical name is said to derive from the Greek word meaning "to rejoice."
From the book, here are the original descriptions:
From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.