DAISY. 147 



That welcomes svery changing hour, 

 And weathers every sky. 



" The prouder beauties of the field 



In gay but quick succession shine, 

 Race after race their honors yield, 

 They flourish and decline. 



" But this small flower, to Nature dear, 



While moon and stars their courses run, 

 Wreathes the whole circle of the year, 

 Companion of the sun, 



" It smiles upon the lap of May, 



To sultry August spreads its charms, 

 Lights pale October on his way, 

 And twines December's arms. 



" The purple heath and golden broom, 



On moory mountains catch the gale, 

 O'er lawns the lily sheds perfume, 

 The violet in the vale. 



" But this bold flow'ret climbs the hill, 



Hides in the forest, haunts the glen, 

 Plays on the margin of the rill, 

 Peeps round the fox's den, 



" Within the garden's cultured round 

 It shares the sweet carnation's bed, 

 And blooms on consecrated ground 

 In honor of the dead. 



" The lambkin crops its crimson gem, 



The wild bee murmurs on its breast, 

 The blue fly bends its pensile stem 

 Light o'er the skylark's nest. 



" 'Tis Flora's page : in every place, 



In every season fresh and fair, 

 It opens with perennial grace, 

 And blossoms everywhere. 



" On waste and woodland, rock and plain, 



Its humble buds unheeded rise ; 

 The rose has but a summer reign, 

 The daisy never dies." 



