A Notional First Draft

I wandered and pondered my bleak isolation As I slowly perused this wide open space That one cloud above me seemed, like me, quite lonely Its passage was slow as it matched my own pace And then I saw poppies so tall, red and bold I wished they were daffies in yellow and gold The lake in its vastness reflected the skies And sprinkles of sunlight beyond that lone cloud Peppered the ripples with myriad eyes And led me to feel like I walked with a crowd While unopened poppies stand tall with bowed heads They’ll stand even taller displaying their reds Could there be any more precious a day I all at once yearned to be no other place With sunlight and ripples and poppies that sway I found that a smile had enlivened my face For such a sight might make an old poet gay (Which one should interpret the old fashioned way) For oftentimes upon my old sofa lain I reminisce of all those poppies so red Their petals occur to me now and again But gold hues hold sway in my head Though poppies, that day, cleared my mind of its ills I still wish that they had all been daffodils