Rewards and Fairies

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
     ‘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-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 bide
     From Candlemas to Christmas-tide,
     For these simples used aright
     Shall restore a failing sight.

     These shall cleanse and purify
     Webbed 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!