Content.

I have been wandering where the daisies grow,         Great fields of tall, white daisies, and I saw         Them bend reluctantly, and seem to draw     Away in pride when the fresh breeze would blow         From timothy and yellow buttercup,         So by their fearless beauty lifted up.     Yet must they bend at the strong breeze's will,         Bright, flawless things, whether in wrath he sweep         Or, as oftimes, in mood caressing, creep     Over the meadows and adown the hill.         So Love in sport or truth, as Fates allow,         Blows over proud young hearts, and bids them bow.     So beautiful is it to live, so sweet         To hear the ripple of the bobolink,         To smell the clover blossoms white and pink,     To feel oneself far from the dusty street,         From dusty souls, from all the flare and fret         Of living, and the fever of regret.     I have grown younger; I can scarce believe         It is the same sad woman full of dreams         Of seven short weeks ago, for now it seems     I am a child again, and can deceive         My soul with daisies, plucking one by one         The petals dazzling in the noonday sun.     Almost with old-time eagerness I try         My fate, and say: "un peu," a soft "beaucoup,"         Then, lower, "passionment, pas du tout;"     Quick the white petals fall, and lovingly         I pluck the last, and drop with tender touch         The knowing daisy, for he loves me "much."     I can remember how, in childish days,         I deemed that he who held my heart in thrall         Must love me "passionately" or "not at all."     Poor little wilful ignorant heart that prays         It knows not what, and heedlessly demands         The best that life can give with out-stretched hands!     Now I am wiser, and have learned to prize         Peace above passion, and the summer life         Here with the flowers above the ceaseless strife     Of armed ambitions. They alone are wise         Who know the daisy-secrets, and can hold         Fast in their eager hands her heart of gold.