Poems (Hoffman)/California Poppies
For works with similar titles, see California Poppies.
CALIFORNIA POPPIES
Somewhere in childhood's golden fieldsGay poppies with the sunbeams blend,Maturer fancy scarce reveals As wandering through their acre beds, The sunbeams shining on their heads, I glean my golden sheaf.No Ruth a richer sheaf could glean,Nor Ceres, though the harvest's queen, I pass their trophies by;And fill my hands with dazzling showersOf silken petaled trembling flowers And think they reasoned wellWho for our State's bright emblem choseThe flower that scorns no dreary spotBut brightens like a sunny thoughtEach gray fence corner where it grows,And mingling with the sunshine fillsBright valleys nestling in their hills, Or stars the ocean's shore;And to our proud State's farthest boundThe little wanderers are found Like glints of golden ore,Set in their native ground.Artists perpetuate its flaming hues,Writers immortalize it in your muse,To thee, oh golden State, it shall belongThe chosen favorite of thy scene and song!