I have a memory, like in William Wordsworth’s poem, I wandered lonely as a cloud, of seeing a crowd of golden daffodils blooming on the hillside. It was at my uncle’s farm just outside of Seoul, Korea. And it was in the early spring when the ground still felt like it was frozen. These blooming flowers “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” made a strong impression on me.

I feel a sweetness and a sadness in the daffodil. It’s yellow color is energetic, bright and cheerful yet its posture somehow feels so fragile - like it takes all its energy just to hold up its head against gravity. Yet no fail, they come back every spring even before the snow disappears from the ground... before it feels safe for them to live and grow and survive.

To me, the daffodil feels like a reminder of the fragility of our own physical existence and what a miracle it is that we are able to survive all the challenges we face in our lives even on a daily basis. 

Yet in fragility, separate from the feeling of danger, there is such beauty too. It’s like the awareness of fragility serves as a wake up call to the miracle of so many things.

So I always hope that when people experience this drawing that it doesn’t feel like a “sad” drawing as much as it feels like a reminder of how beautiful and miraculous life is in all its forms.