[Editor: This poem by Agnes Neale was published in Shadows and Sunbeams (1890).]
Underneath the Daisies.
Underneath the daisies, will all pain and sorrow cease?
Will this aching void of longing unsatisfied be o’er?
Underneath the daisies, will my heart find rest and peace
In a calmness and a quiet to be broken never more?
I have longed for light and sunshine as the growing flowers long;
I have sought for love and sympathy, but always sought in vain:
There has been a troubled refrain that has run through every song,
And the bloom of every pleasure has held a sting of pain.
Underneath the daisies, will the refrain never sound?
Will the sting be drawn from pain, will the joy be what it ought?
Underneath the daisies, will true sympathy be found,
And love and light and sunshine never more be vainly sought?
Underneath the daisies — oh! it seems so much to me!
Underneath the daisies I will rest me and be still,
Where eyes can never hurt me, for their scorn I cannot see,
And where cruel words can never more my heart with anguish fill.
Underneath the daisies I shall be so glad to rest;
While above the pink-fringed watchers the solemn tree-tops nod,
I shall be safely sheltered with the One who loves me best —
For underneath the daisies means to be at home with God.
Source:
Agnes Neale, Shadows and Sunbeams, Adelaide: Burden & Bonython, 1890, pages 76-77
Editor’s notes:
o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
One = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to Jesus or God
pink-fringed watchers = daisies [for example, see the poem “What Have You Done?” in the same book, which includes the line “Daisies, with pink-fringed solemn eyes”]
underneath the daisies = buried under the soil; buried in a grave
The Institute of Australian Culture
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