Poems (Hoffman)/Swan River Daisies

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

SWAN RIVER DAISIES

To thy banks, Australian River,
Thy frail flowers our fancies bring;
Gifts will whisper of the giver,
As the streamlet of the spring.

Far across the briny ocean
How our fancies flit along,
'Till they join thy river motion,
Mingle with thy river song.

Rest amid the grasses growing
In the shadows, green and rank;
Revel midst the daisies blowing
In the sunshine on thy bank.

While the swans, their proud necks arching,
And the shadows in their eyes,
Dream not of the desert's parching
Underneath those same blue skies.

Daisies on the artist's canvas,
Daisies in the poet's lay,
Daisies, they have left their impression
All along the dusty way.

They are trodden in the highway
By the busy, thoughtless throng,
They are gathered in the byway;
Woven into scene and song.

Dainty daisies of Australia
Springing from a royal line,
Each in blue or white regalia,
Spun from fibers, silken fine.

Ye have caught the sapphire color,
In each little silken whorl,
Of your native skies, nor duller
Flecked with clouds of purest pearl.

Ox-eye daisies on the prairie,
Garden daisies, old in song;
Daisies coarse and daisies airy
To this royal line belong.

Theirs is not a lordly title
But a changeless, fadeless name;
Virtue's just, deserved requital;
Man might covet such a fame.

Hands have torn the Alpine gentian
From its glacier home away,
Gathered gems, 'twere vain to mention,
From the Tropics rich array.

Fuchsias from Brazilian ranges,
Callas from the storied Nile,
Each its native climate changes,
River, range, or ocean isle.

But to every land they carry
Facts, where fancy's eyes can see
Some lone haunt of fern or fairy
Where they flourished, wild and free;

So they make a pretty day dream
That their bursting buds embloom,
Ever wrought of shade and sunbeam,
Never touched by glare or gloom.

Thus thy flowers, Australian River,
To our distant land have come;
Breathing subtly forever,
Fancies of their native home.