A Daisy from the Parthenon

Charlotte Fiske Bates

FIELD-DAISIES spreading lavish as the light,

  How loved they are of all who paint and sing!

Yet dearer far are they unto my sight

  Now that I know the precincts whence they spring.

 

This very one looked from the Parthenon;

  O simple flower! what splendid fate was thine!

Now the Greek glory is about thee thrown,

  And oldest archives seem thy leaves to line.

 

For me hereafter shall the daisies hold

  Hints of the Virgin’s Temple in their face;

Of fabled Phidian wonders, white and gold,

  Shall Fancy mind me in each common place.