Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/189

 Sheila Rand

I only know a very ecstasy

Of gladness floods my sad heart,

As, glancing from the calm cerulean sky

To the green grass below,

The iridescent vetch, pink, mauve, and blue,

Flashes a bright welcome to my eager eye.

simple vetch, how cunningly you grow, As if some Prairie-elf,

Just to amuse himself,

Has woven variegated patterns in the grass!

A tuft of violets gaze timidly

From out a growth of sallow, thirsty grass.

Tis strange to find such beauty hiding here,

But then the Prairie s breast is fair

Until the sun s lips press too close.

Now as I pass with gladsome step across the mead,

1 catch the bashful Meadow Lark s rich note. I pluck a simple weed,

And leaf of columbine, and in my hair,

I twine these symbols of simplicity.

Vanished is all my former misery.

Thanks be to God for this sweet place !

My throat begins to throb with happy pain,

For just beyond that mound,

I see a golden gleam, a saffron star.

O joy to meet one s childhood-friends again.

winsome cowslip, now that you are found,

1 know that Spring is here, And Summer must be near,

For you have ever been his dainty harbinger.

I gazed awhile in silence, then I cried,

I never saw a blossom smile like you,

Bright, roguish cowslip. O but you are sweet!

I picked those growing at my feet,

And as I pinned them at my breast,

A whistle blew.

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