WHERE WOULD YOU GROW?

Otago Witness, Issue 2084, 1 February 1894, Page 45

WHERE WOULD YOU GROW?

If I were a flower on plain or on hill, In meadow or woodland or by a sweet rill, If Nature would give me my choice where to Krow— Upon some high mountain, in garden so low, On tree tall and stately, on hedge bright and

green, Or down by the river where ships may be

seen, In woodlands so dewy, where brooklets flow by And birds of the grandest seem ever to fly, I should say, like the daisy : "My palaco and home Shall be low and yet lovely, with grasses alone To guard and to shield me." I love it because it is dewy and sweet, With buttercup, daisy, and clover so neat ; I love it because of the grasses so fair, And the stories they tell me when no one is

there ; Of the dewdrops that sparkle and shine in the

sun, Of the sunbeams that dance until evening is

come, Of the shades and the shadows which slowly pass by, Of the light and the sunshine, the clouds and the sky. I love it for when the fair springtime is come, And birds are beginning to look for a home-

A home in the sunshine. The sparrow, the blackbird, the linnet, and thrush All build upon trees or high in some bush, But the plain little larklet, that sweet singing bud, Builds low 'mongst the grasses, where may be

heard The humming of boos and the whispering of ilowers As they talk to each other through glad summer

hours ; Then the grasses all bow and bend over her nest, And the daisies all nod and say, " Welcome our

guest " ; The buttercups clap their small hands with delight, And the clover sheds* perfume around her all

night. Would I were a flower, for then would I grow With grasses and daisies and buttercups low. Ada A. R. Ludkord