The Carolina Daisies
A thousand daisies lift their snowy heads
Upon each sun-kissed Carolina hill,
And star the meadows with their white and gold
To where the flowing tide of Summer rill
Eases its pace in lowlands green and wide,
Until it finds the river's swifter tide.
In other lands I've seen the daisies bloom,
And marked the glory of a day in June;
Have watched the Summer splendor far and wide,
When all the world with nature was in tune,
But other daisies never yet could thrill
My soul like those on Carolina hill.
Somehow, in exile, as I see them yet,
Those hills seem greener under Summer skies,
For there, just she and I, in daisy field
I saw the love-light in her tender eyes;
Even yet as constant as the stars above
I hold her tenderness, her trust, her love.
For swift the years that blight our castles fair
Have left me this, and memory reaches far
To love's awakening in the daisy fields,
Mid hush of twilight, 'neath the evening star;
So thus I bless you for the love that thrills
My soul, sweet daisies of the Carolina hills.
