Not even Wordsworth is more associated with daffodils than the Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown (1921-1995), for whom the flowers were potent symbols of the renewal of spring and faith in his northern fastness.

These charming lines are taken from a longer piece in his posthumous volume, Following a Lark.

SCHOOL (from DAFFODIL TIME)

In the island's school

The children's heads

Are like green sheaths that will open soon.

And one of the seven shadows

Has left Mr McSween's face.

A lark glitters out song along the lift of the hill

And the bird

Is louder today than the chanted

Multiplication table.

And the globe of the world

In the dark corner, has a splash of light.

And Mr McSween says, like

A solemn song "This

Afternoon the Easter holiday begins

But now, again – and better this time – the three times table" . . .

And twenty-one faces

Open like daffodils.