A rose was born but lived it not in heaven For a marigold did bloom instead To deliver us into virtue Unprecedented And then with light of intermingled joy Did riese the earth and flock the moist seed of shoots A stem to stretch and yawn through cracked ground Nurturred by the time of God's will Splaying forth wings in merriment Green then golden yellow they burst Into a Summer's morn as first light strilkes And brings a Marygoulden dawn. Alternate undivided lobeless leaves A disk or eye of short florets Surrounded by radiating rays No petals from orange or yellow heide Each floret a tiny individual flower Fruits o' seedlike achenes The conserue that is made of the floures Of Mary-goldes cureth the trembling harte So Lyte pronounced in Dodoens Obovate leaves narrow to their base Clasp the stem The Marigold that opens and shuts with the sun A fine coloured bloom Calendula Officinalis Stretching eighteen inches to the sky The small front gardens had the unaccountable proerty Of producing nothing but Marigolds Beware the aphid, thrips and blister beetles For marygoldes they love to feast A joyous nibble to the leaf hopper And nematodes can chew the rays of sunswept dew From Persia to Tenerife Tis first day of the month When must be paid Gold of the Virgin Mary Fashioned of oelde Familiar, streaming with energy Garnished with almonds and current jelly A cake made to resemble a flower The pistols beckon a deafening roar Unto nature's predictability Mortored through earth's shaded abode Splintering into concentric streams of Effusion to the Sovereign |