Buttercups and Daisies by Mary Howitt

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Buttercups and Daisies
by Mary Howitt

Buttercups and daisies,
⁠Oh, the pretty flowers,
Coming ere the spring time,
⁠To tell of sunny hours.
While the trees are leafless,
⁠While the fields are bare,
Buttercups and daisies
⁠Spring up here and there.


Ere the snowdrop peepeth,
⁠Ere the crocus bold,
Ere the early primrose
⁠Opes its paly gold,
Somewhere on the sunny bank
⁠Buttercups are bright;
Somewhere 'mong the frozen grass
⁠Peeps the daisy white.


Little hardy flowers,
⁠Like to children poor,
Playing in their sturdy health
⁠By their mother's door,
Purple with the north wind,
⁠Yet alert and bold;
Fearing not, and caring not,
⁠Though they be a-cold!


What to them is winter!
⁠What are stormy showers!
Buttercups and daisies
⁠Are these human flowers!
He who gave them hardships
⁠And a life of care,
Gave them likewise hardy strength
⁠And patient hearts to bear.