Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/383

 358 RUNNIMEDE.

Away, away, ye sombre thoughts !

Avaunt, ye spectres drear ! Too long your sable wing ye spread

In scenes to memory dear : So, quick they vanished all away,

Like visioned hosts of care, As out on the green sward we went,

To breathe the balmy air.

��Then from its home, in English soil,

A daisy s root I drew, Amid whose moistened crown of leaves

A healthful bud crept through, And whispered in its infant ear

That it should cross the sea, A cherished emigrant, and share

A western home with me.

��Methought it shrank, at first, and paled ;

But when on ocean s tide Strong waves and awful icebergs frowned,

And manly courage died, It calmly reared a crested head,

And smiled amid the storm, As if old Magna Charta s soul

Inspired its fragile form.

�� �