WEEDS

White with daisies and red with sorrel

And empty, empty under the sky!—

Life is a quest and love a quarrel —

Here is a place for me to lie.

Daisies spring from damned seeds,

And this red fire that here I see

Is a worthless crop of crimson weeds,

Cursed by farmers thriftily.

But here, unhated for an hour,

The sorrel runs in ragged flame,

The daisy stands, a bastard flower,

Like flowers that bear an honest name.

And here a while, where no wind brings

The baying of a pack athirst,

May sleep the sleep of blessed things,

The blood too bright, the brow accurst.