OH, dear to me the simple flowers <br />Which bloom in gardens such as these, <br />Let jasmine shine in ladies' bowers, <br />And myrtle fringe the southern seas; <br /> <br />Let gentians star primæval rocks, <br />And pierce the late-dissolving snow; <br />But give me gilly-flowers and stocks, <br />And those sweet gardens where they grow. <br /> <br />I like grey walls with ivy hung, <br />And roofs where flickering shadows play, <br />Old apple-trees, where birds have sung <br />While generations pass'd away. <br /> <br />Thick hedges shaven fine and neat, <br />And wild ones where the woodbine creeps, <br />All clumps of blossom smelling sweet, <br />All grassy banks where sunshine sleeps. <br /> <br />Tall firs, like sturdy sentinels, <br />Elms habited by cawing rooks, <br />And lilies ringing various bells <br />To prayer and praise in shady nooks. <br /> <br />Let India boast her fan-leafed palm, <br />And Lebanon her cedar-trees, <br />Give me a summer Sunday's calm, <br />And garden fill'd with flowers like these; <br /> <br />And any song that I can sing <br />Will overflood my lips in rhyme; <br />My heart, possess'd of every thing, <br />Forget the sense of space and time; <br /> <br />All sorrow softly melt away, <br />Dissolving in a rainbow shower; <br />And I, for one long happy day, <br />Dream that I am a sinless flower.<br /><br />Bessie Rayner Parkes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/farmhouse-gardens/
