Snowdrops: February’s Prophetic Fair Maiden

Blanzifiore (Snowdrops) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1880. Source: Wikiart

The Snowdrop
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Many, many welcomes,
February fair-maid,
Ever as of old time,
Solitary firstling,
Coming in the cold time,
Prophet of the gay time,
Prophet of the May time,
Prophet of the roses,
Many, many welcomes,
February fair maid!

Leaf-nested snowdrops

Chaste snowdrops

Watercolor sketches of snowdrops

Watercolor sketch of snowdrops in a vase

 

Moon Snail Project # 85: A Miracle of Design

Moon Snail Shell # 85, watercolor painting

 

“See what a lovely shell
Small and pure as pearl
Lying close to my foot,
Frail, but a work divine,
Made so fairly well
With delicate spire and whorl,
How exquisitely minute,
A miracle of design.”
— Alfred Lord Tennyson, from “Maud”