II/4 Dante likens his renewed morale to the opening up of flowers which close at night. The various stages of the daffodil (chosen as a flower of this season of pilgrimage) as it unfolds were etched from life in 1978 and formed part of one of the first images to be tackled. The rising sun, also an emblem of renewed vigour, pictured over the sea, echoes two of Dante's images for Virgil as well as contrasting with the twilight opening of the canto. The Virgin Butterfly, her mission fulfilled, departs. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.