Sea of Golden Daffodil While driving through The west side field of Morton Arboretum in Lisle Illinois, On a fine day of April Suddenly I was halted by a view of sea, The sea of golden daffodils. An endless field of golden daffodils Spreads all over In front of me, That made gentle golden waves, Fluttering, Nodding To easterly winds. Once bare trees scattered A deserted lonely field covered with snow Turns to a sea of spring wonder, The sea of golden daffodils. Amused, exhilarated In the midst of ecstasy My mundane restless mind, Roam around aimlessly Browsing the field of golden daffodils, That suddenly becomes clear as a blue sky. Nothing is between the field of golden daffodils and me. Everything in my mind is in halt At the sight of the field of golden daffodils . . . *The crocus is one of very early blooming flowers which sprouts from a bulb. From the ground  a slender stem shoots up to bear a tender looking pink or white flowers. There are 80 species of crocus family, mainly centered in Mediterranean region. Bulbs have to be planted in the late fall to have flowers bloom in the spring. *The Morton Arboretum is located in Lisle, Illinois, 25 miles west of Chicago Loop, which covers 1,700 acres. It has 3,600 different types of plants from around the world. There are extensive educational programs and plant research activities carried out. Jae Ro    1998
Water Lily Attractive, voluptuous, and even provocative As she looks on a hot summer days, In the water, Of the middle of the pond. Only to greet the sun and chat with the sun, Hide and bathe all night. Make up in the dawn, Dance with the sun, Coquetting with the sun, Flirting with the sun, All day long, Like a nymph in the paradise lagoon. * Water-lily family, Nymphaeaceae, consists of about 90 species in three distinct groups which may be considered as separate families. The water-lilies are fresh water plants widespread in tropical and temperate areas. They are mostly large rhizomatous perennial herbs submerged or floating leaves. The numbers of sepals and petals present vary with the genus but they are always free from each other and sometimes spirally arranged. Usually there are many free stamens and gynoecia are variable. * Flower buds of a water lily open only when the sun is out. *This is the first poem written by the author in English after having gotten a deep feeling about nature in the author’s garden. Jae Ro	Glamorous but Still Pure White Water Lily
Monarch Butterfly Frolicking with Aster	Monarch Butterfly Because I have planted many different kinds of flowering perennials in my garden and there is a vast area of county forest preserve next to it, I could enjoy a tremendous repertoire of nature: animals like deer, rabbit, raccoon, weasel, woodchuck, opossum, etc.; birds like, robin, finch, swallow, sparrow, lark, red winged black bird, cardinal, blue jay, swan, dove, goose, duck, crows, etc.; and insects like butterflies, dragon flies, beetles, cricket, cicada, mantis, etc.; and also amphibians like frog, toads, salamanders etc. Not all living creatures are amiable and pretty. Some of them give more nuisances than enjoyment. Deer, rabbit, goose, raccoon and crow are those that I could not love but they are all important parts of the nature and play important roles to maintain balance of nature. They often ravage my beautiful flower garden or make unpleasant noise. One of my favorite nature creatures is monarch butterfly. Every year they are constant visitors at my garden. Whether they sit on flowers to suck nectar or fly around colorful flowers, I love to watch them. Monarch butterflies migrate all the way to desert in southern part of Mexico and spend during winter in dormant state. They move back to northern part of United States during summer time. They lay eggs on the milk weed plant and larvae live on milk weed in Texas. Milk weed contains poisonous substance so larvae become poisonous so that they can be protected from predators. Eventually they become caterpillars and soon after they hatch and complete metamorphosis, they start to move further to north and show up in flowering gardens in Canada or Northern part of United States. In the fall before cold winter comes, they migrate thousands miles to Mexico again. I wonder how could such delicate creatures travel that long distance and how they know the direction to get there! They might use an atmospheric current or magnetic field as a guide. Having known the life cycle of a monarch, they make me wonder more than before how mythical the nature is. I sit on the bench after weeding and watering plants and watch male and female monarch butterflies flirting and courting each other. Jae Ro