| |
| 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, | 5 |
| 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! | 10 |
| |
| It shall sweeten and make whole | |
| Fevered breath and festered soul. | |
| It shall mightily restrain | |
| Over-busied hand and brain. | |
| It shall ease thy mortal strife | 15 |
| ’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-facèd primroses, | 20 |
| Summer’s wild wide-hearted rose, | |
| Autumn’s wall-flower of the close, | |
| And, thy darkness to illume, | |
| Winter’s bee-thronged ivy-bloom. | |
| Seek and serve them where they bide | 25 |
| From Candlemas to Christmas-tide, | |
| For these simples, used aright, | |
| Can restore a failing sight. | |
| |
| These shall cleanse and purify | |
| Webbed and inward-turning eye; | 30 |
| These shall show thee treasure hid, | |
| Thy familiar fields amid; | |
| And reveal (which is thy need) | |
| Every man a King indeed! | |
| |
