Ye may tell me of flowers bright and gay,
Blooming in Eastern lands away,
And of climes beyond the beautiful sea,
Where all fair things and glad may be;
And flowers seem born to dazzle the sight.
Ye may boast of beauties across the main,
But give, oh! give me, from England again,
The wild red rose, as it used to bloom
Round my father’s door, with its sweet perfume.
Ye may tell me of flowers of crimson hue,
And glorious tints of gold and blue,
That sunnier heavens have brought to birth,
And strewed like gems o’er thankless earth;
Where the sevenfold dye of the rainbow rests
On starried crowns and glowing crests.
But oh! for the meadows of England’s green,
Set thick with the golden kingcups’ sheen;
That are grass might seem a hidden deep,
Where the gods of Nature their treasure keep.
But oh! for the daisy of English ground,
That loves to grow on churchyard mound;
For the primrose that looks up everywhere,
From bowery lanes to the scented air;
For the flower that hangeth so wavily
Its own soft silver tracery,
And calleth the bee from afar to sip
Nectar which hangs on its delicate lip;
And bring me the bright-berried eglantine,
To weave me the wreath that I used to twine.
Oh! dearer to me are the sweet wild flowers
A hand unseen on England showers;
That are born unknown, and all unknown fade,
Far and away in woodland shade;
And dearer to me are those lesser gems,
Peeping from earth on tiny stems,
Than the vaunting glow of rare Eastern lands,
And the gorgeous show which in proud pomp stands;
For they have a voice, and they speak to me,
With their eyes so full of Love’s mystery!
(Caroline Woolmer Leakey)
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Caroline Woolmer Leakey Poems based on Topics: Love, God, England, Flowers, Mystery, Nature, Gold, Beauty, English, Birth, Sense & PerceptionReaders Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, God Poems, Nature Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Flowers Poems, Beauty Poems, Gold Poems, Birth Poems, Mystery Poems, England Poems, English PoemsBased on Keywords: sevenfold, sunnier, tracery, calleth, hangeth, bowery, kingcups