LEGENDS OF THE FLOWERS.
Reading edition
THE SUNFLOWER.
here hollyhocks lift their blossoms gay, And dahlias show their velvet dyes, The Sunflower in its flaming pride With them in gorgeous beauty vies.
Proudly it turns towards the sun, And lifts aloft its golden shield, As in the day when first its bloom To wondering Spaniards was revealed.
For, when the Spaniards found Peru, A marvel there they did behold, The fields with Sunflowers covered o'er Seemed like a living sheet of gold.
No wonder that Peruvian priests, Who worshipped the Sun-god, should take The Sunflower for their chosen flower, And hold it sacred for his sake.
Each holy priestess of the Sun A glittering golden breast-plate wore, Fashioned to semblance of the flower, That also in her hand she bore.
And though in lands far from Peru A home the Sunflower bright hath found, It worships still the sun, as when The Spaniards trod Peruvian ground.