Page:Bohemian poems, ancient and modern (Lyra czecho-slovanska).djvu/131



WREATH of flow’rets for a maiden’s brow, The earliest daughters of the budding spring! Such would I twine, and place them there to blow, And gaze upon them and their beauties sing.

First then I seek the willowy bank, and frame A circlet rich with flowers of golden hue, Rich too with emblems and a meaning name— O may the end approve its meaning true!

The palm-branch is the prize of victory— O that these palms may prove prophetic now! Life is a contest, and its end must be Shame, or a deathless crown upon the brow.

Lo! here and there fresh daisies spangle o’er The grassy mead, my watchful eye beneath; All hail, fair flow’rets! come, increase the store, That I am gathering for the maiden’s wreath!

Oft doth the scythe upon its ruthless way Behead the daisy flowers upon the green, Yet the true-hearted root is constant aye, New flowers producing where the first have been.