Page:Rewards and Fairies (Kipling, 1910).djvu/15

 A CHARM

Take of English earth as much

As either hand may rightly clutch.

In the taking of it breathe

Prayer for all who lie beneath—

Not the great nor well bespoke,

But the mere uncounted folk

Of whose life and death is none

Report or lamentation.

Lay that earth upon thy heart,

And thy sickness shall depart.

It shall sweeten and make whole

Fevered breath and festered soul;

It shall mightily restrain

Over-busy hand and brain;

It shall ease thy mortal strife

&apos;Gainst the immortal woe of life,

Till thyself restored shall prove

By what grace the Heavens do move.

Take of English flowers these—

Spring's full-facéd primroses,

Summer's wild wide-hearted rose,

Autumn's wall-flower of the close, vii