A Charm
Take of English earth as muchAs either hand may rightly clutch.In the taking of it breathePrayer for all who lie beneath—Not the great nor well-bespoke,But the mere uncounted folkOf whose life and death is noneReport or lamentation.Lay that earth upon thy heart,And thy sickness shall depart!
It shall sweeten and make wholeFevered breath and festered soul;It shall mightily restrainOver-busy hand and brain;it shall ease thy mortal strife’Gainst the immortal woe of life,Till thyself restored shall proveBy what grace the Heavens do move.
Take of English flowers these—Spring’s full-faced primroses,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 bideFrom Candlemas to Christmas-tide,For these simples used arightShall restore a failing sight.
These shall cleanse and purifyWebbed and inward-turning eye;These shall show thee treasure hid,Thy familiar fields amid,At thy threshold, on thy hearth,Or about thy daily path;And reveal (which is thy need)Every man a King indeed!