December / Dollie Radford

December

No gardener need go far to find
     The Christmas rose,
The fairest of the flowers that mark
     The sweet Year’s close:
Nor be in quest of places where
     The hollies grow,
Nor seek for sacred trees that hold
     The mistletoe.
All kindly tended gardens love
     December days,
And spread their latest riches out
     In winter’s praise.
But every gardener’s work this month
     Must surely be
To choose a very beautiful
     Big Christmas tree,
And see it through the open door
     In triumph ride,
To reign a glorious reign within
     At Christmas‐tide.

~~

Dollie Radford (1858-1920)
from The Young Gardeners' Kalendar, 1904

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Dollie Radford biography