Shy and modest

Another day spent catching up on a number of long-overdue jobs, which when accomplished give one a very satisfying feeling!

Our afternoon walk to the Broadway provided no opportunities for an interesting photograph, so on our return I wandered round the front garden to try and capture the sense of hope that the emerging bulbs and flowers bring. I was keen to get a shot of a hellebore, but they are shy, and always conspire to conceal their faces. However, by perching very uncomfortably on my haunches and holding the camera down very low, I managed this shot. Standing up again though was another matter …!


… As the leaves of Hellebore
Turn to whence they sprung before.
And behind each ample curl
Peeps the richness of a pearl.
Downward too flows many a tress
With a glossy waviness;
Full, and round like globes that rise
From the censer to the skies
Through sunny air …


Lines from a poem written by John Keats to an unknown woman. It begins "Hadst thou liv’d in days of old" and was possibly composed by John for his brother George to send as a valentine to Mary Frogley in 1816.