Lilacs blooming in the dooryard

When I walked outdoors to take a photo of today's earrings, I spotted lilac buds just outside our door, and into my thoughts popped Walt Whitman:

WHEN lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d,

And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,

I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;

Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west,

And thought of him I love

...

"Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,

 There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim."

Whitman wrote this poem soon after the April 14th death of Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps on April 23rd?

The lilacs in my dooryard are about to bloom again.

I chose these spinning beads today after reading that this is thought to be William Shakepeare's birthday. I wanted a whimsical pair in his honor. My daughter Kathe made this pair for me.

So, Lincoln and Whitman and Shakespeare. Quite a day.