Ambarvalia/Burbidge/The Daisy in the South

by Thomas Burbidge

THE DAISY IN THE SOUTH.

This, this a daisy! gayest flower
I left at home, yet meekest!
This flaunting flatterer of the hour,
Seen e'er thou seest or seekest;
A daisy this!—then call pretence
Reserve, call meekness impudence!

Thou foolish clime, that could'st betray
By pampering this beauty
The loveliest image which the day
Beheld of cheerful Duty;

'Tis more than Fancy weeps the cost
Of such a type to Nature lost.

There are conversions of the eye;
Tumultuary accesses,
Obtained ere passion can deny
Into the soul's recesses,
May make a flower of this pure sense,
A teacher above recompense.

And what for childhood's opening heart,
Perceptions ever growing,
What might not such a fount impart,
Perpetually flowing,
Besprinkling field and rock and lane
With wisdom of this English strain?

O gay Italian land, to me
In all thy wondrous glory
Is something still I fain would see,
More staid, less transitory,
A charm my heart has often found
Couched in the Daisy's simple round.