Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.

Greece: Athens

A Daisy from the Parthenon

By Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838–1916)

FIELD-DAISIES spreading lavish as the light,

How loved they are of all who paint and sing!

Yet dearer far are they unto my sight

Now that I know the precincts whence they spring.

This very one looked from the Parthenon;

O simple flower! what splendid fate was thine!

Now the Greek glory is about thee thrown,

And oldest archives seem thy leaves to line.

For me hereafter shall the daisies hold

Hints of the Virgin’s Temple in their face;

Of fabled Phidian wonders, white and gold,

Shall Fancy mind me in each common place.