To My Lady Graygown: With a Handful of Verses + 

“Wayside songs and meadow blossoms; nothing perfect, nothing rare; + 

Every poet’s ordered, garden yields a hundred flowers more fair; + 

Master-singers know a music richer far beyond compare. + 

Yet the reaper in the harvest, ’mid the burden and the heat, + 

Hums a half remembered ballad, finds the easy cadence sweet + 

Sees the very blue of heaven in the corn-bloom at his feet.” + 

For the Over-Lord is generous, no straight walls His love confine; + 

Unto few, for world-wide glory, comes the symphony divine; + 

Unto all, for simple pleasure, come the thoughts that sing and shine. + 

So to you, dear heart, I bring them: you, among the busy throng, + 

Walk beside me, help me, cheer me, keep the days from seeming long: + 

All the blossoms, all the ballads, touched by you, to you belong⁠— + 

You, my flower; you, my song! + 