 | The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay |  |
338
THE DAISIES.
I
My heart is full of joy to-day,The air hath music in it;
Once more I roam the wild-wood way,
And prize the passing minute;
The balms of heaven are on my cheek,
My feet in meadow mazes.
Let me alone, and I will speak
My blessings on the daisies.
II
I have not seen for half a year,Sore pent in cares and labours,
These gems of earth, these blossoms dear,
These free and gladsome neighbours;
They smile upon me as of old,
Through Memory's shifting phases.
My blessings on your white and gold,
Ye well-belovèd daisies!
III
I love ye for yourselves alone,Ye bright perennial comers;
Ye ease my brow of winters known,
And crown my locks with summers.
Ye give me back the thoughts of youth,
Its feelings and its phrases,
Its careless joys, its simple truth.
My blessings on the daisies!
339
IV
If only once each hundred springsYe bloom'd the long grass under,
The crowd, with all its priests and kings,
Would throng to see and wonder:
Religion's self would kneel and pray,
And hymn your Maker's praises;
But you, ye blossom every day!
My blessings on the daisies!
| The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay | |