The Daisy follows soft the Sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, walking, finds the flower near.
“Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?
“Because, sir, love is sweet!”
We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee,—
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night’s possibility!
Credits
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) was an American poet whose work, largely unpublished in her lifetime, would come to define a uniquely interior and unconventional voice in 19th-century literature. This poem's use of a daisy as a devotional speaker reflects Dickinson's lifelong fondness for flowers as symbolic figures, a theme woven throughout her letters and herbarium, which she began compiling as a teenager.
