THE DAISY

An angel found a daisy where it lay

On Heaven's highroad of transparent gold,

And, turning to one near, he said, “I pray,

Tell me what manner of strange bloom I hold.

You came a long, long way — perchance you know

In what far country such fair flowers blow?”

Then spoke the other: “Turn thy radiant face

And gaze with me down purple depth of space.

See, where the stars lie spilled upon the night,

Like amber beads that hold a yellow light.

Note one that burns with faint yet steady glow;

It is the Earth — and there these blossoms grow.

Some little child from that dear, distant land

Hath borne this hither in his dimpled hand.”

Still gazed he down. “Ah, friend,” he said, “I, too,

Oft crossed the fields at home where daisies grew.”