Poems (Hoffman)/Swan River Daisies
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 oceanHow our fancies flit along,'Till they join thy river motion,Mingle with thy river song.
Rest amid the grasses growingIn the shadows, green and rank;Revel midst the daisies blowingIn the sunshine on thy bank.
While the swans, their proud necks arching,And the shadows in their eyes,Dream not of the desert's parchingUnderneath those same blue skies.
Daisies on the artist's canvas,Daisies in the poet's lay,Daisies, they have left their impressionAll along the dusty way.
They are trodden in the highwayBy the busy, thoughtless throng,They are gathered in the byway;Woven into scene and song.
Dainty daisies of AustraliaSpringing 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 dullerFlecked with clouds of purest pearl.
Ox-eye daisies on the prairie,Garden daisies, old in song;Daisies coarse and daisies airyTo this royal line belong.
Theirs is not a lordly titleBut a changeless, fadeless name;Virtue's just, deserved requital;Man might covet such a fame.
Hands have torn the Alpine gentianFrom 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 carryFacts, where fancy's eyes can seeSome lone haunt of fern or fairyWhere they flourished, wild and free;
So they make a pretty day dreamThat 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.