The Daisies Poem by Andrew Benton

Within a single forlorn field
a million daisies lay—

Their heads were bleached by bright sunlight
and never-ending day.

The bitter face of years long pasy
upon their brows had wrought—
the solitude of friendless days—
a path which none had sought.

The fell wind of a thousand foes
over their hearts had laid—
a curtain of most iron repose—
their whole beings were dismayed.

Although their souls were starving
with a need of love profound,
around their lives of emptiness
gay deeds seemed to resound.

A superficial joyfulness,
an aura of delight,
illuminated briefly
their ever-darkened night.

The pallid glowing moonlight
of a thousand haunting dawns,
threw conflict into sharp contrast:
foul nectar for sweet fawns.

If no help had been coming
to that vast and torpid vale,
I hold no doubt within my head
that death would end my tale.

Yet over yonder hillcrest broke
a gold, vivacious orb—
the night had ended, day had brought
means which all fears absorb.

The tenderness of newfound life
into the moor had come;
Begin, it did, to warm their hearts
and thaw their souls so numb.

And although many trials came
before the glorious morn’,
the daisies were no longer frail—
their talents were reborn.

Above their toils, smiling down,
the students’ savior flew—
gazing down through banks of cloud
and skies of hope so true.

For never had the daisies seen
such endless days of love—
their suffering had been ended
by a single, brilliant dove.