Historical Poem
Photo by Estar Hyo Gyung Choi
Marguerite
By Carrie W. Bronson
Good Housekeeping, June 26, 1886.
Pale little lassie out among the daisies
Why are you so lonely this golden afternoon?
All your little comrades laugh and sport together;
Come then and be merry, child, for it is June.
"Ah, I love the daisies! they are my little sisters,
Sometimes in the meadow they keep me all the day.
Happily we dream and wander in the sunshine;
There were never playmates as beautiful as they.
When I bend my head down close and close above them,
Where the listening breezes cannot catch a word,
Pretty things they tell me, all the meadow secrets,
In the softest voices that were ever heard.
You could never guess the odd, sweet things they teach me,
How the laughing song came to the bobolink;
Why the sunshine tries so hard to catch the shadows;
What the raindrops whisper, and the grasses think.
Always when I'm sad I come to them for comfort;
For they understand,—the daisies are so wise,--
You should see them hold their faces up to kiss me,
Softly touch my hand, and look into my eyes.
Sometimes at my work I think I hear them calling,
"Daisy, sister Daisy, come out, we want you, dear!"
How they laugh to see me, all across the meadow,
As I haste to answer, "Darlings, I am here!"
Lassie, little lassie, your brain is full of fancies,
Let the flowers make playmates of the wind and sun,
Human friends are sweeter than the fickle daisies;
They will go and leave you when the summer's done.
But the lassie answers, "From their dainty snow-beds
I can hear their voices in winter just the same,
In my dreams I wander with my meadow-sisters,
Ah, 'tis well they called me by the daisy's name."
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If you liked this page, you might also enjoy the following:
A Floral Flirtation (Poem—1889)
A Plea For the Old-Fashioned Lavender (1880)
Language and Sentiment of Flowers (1891)
Out-door Botanizing (1878)
Victoria, B.C., Canada: Downs and ups on an anniversary trip —or, How we were denied entrance to Victoria's most famous garden for dressing too decently, yet still managed to find many lovely flowers in much better places
Flowers (19th-century images)
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Other poems:
A Header (?) (Poem—1883)
A Modern Love Sung in Ancient Fashion (Poem—1884)
The Autumn Woods (Poem—1888)
In Nutting Time (Poem—1890)
May Day (Poem—1889)
Memorial Day (Poem—1890)
October (Poem—1888)
On Wings of Love (Poem—1884)
The Soldier's Daughter (Poem—1889)
Together (Poem—1888)
Wheelman's Song (Poem—1883)
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Back to Historical Articles Index
Like historic poetry? Be sure to check out Sarah's collections of her favorites from the Victorian era!
In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
The Tales of Chetzemoka
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