Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare.)

Tansy
(Tanacetum vulgare.)

To gather Tansy calls up once again

My boyish rambles threescore years ago,
When in my native Cleveland I did go
Strolling by the bosky beck, down rustic lane,
On flower-deckt footpath, where my fingers fain 5
Would fill themselves with those delightful things
To youth, which Flora in her bounty flings
To all—alas! to most adults in vain.
E’en now I love the fragrant vermifuge; to me
Its golden buttons yet are beautiful; 10
And in old age I well delight to pull
And hand it to my grandbairns, and to see
Them prize it too: for whate’er gives them pleasure,
To my poor simple mind seems something I would treasure.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, p. 61]
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