IN THE FIELD
Reading edition
If the dandelion tall Hath a yellow and shining head, It is because he hath lately seen One who came, passed and fled Swiftly under the side of the wall In a gold crown and a robe of green. And if the heather and green gorse dark Can shine at will in colours fair, It is because far Paradise floor Hanging aloft in the evening air, They have seen, and hasten to mark Themselves its pavement and wall and door. If there are small flowers blue and red, Five-fold about their inner whorl, And dight so well in leaf and blade, It is that they have seen unfurl High in the dark arch overhead, Many a five-fold Star displayed. And if the tree on the eastern hill Looketh him forth so steadfastly And silently doth ponder all, It is because the spirits free That the whole earth do make and fill, In all his branches cry and call. 1914.