Classic Poem

Down by the mill, down by the mill,
Through all the summer hours,
There they grew and grew and grew
Red and white and purple and blue,
My beautiful, beautiful flowers!
Down by the water, bright and still
Set like sentinels round the mill,
My beautiful, beautiful flowers!

There they grew and there they stood
Together, two and two;
And some had hearts like a drop of blood,
And some like a drop of dew;
Down by the mill, down by the mill,
Through all the summer hours,
There they swung and there they swayed,
Like spots of sunshine over the shade;
And over the waters, cold and still,
My beautiful, beautiful flowers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

O to see them bloom and blush
Was the sweetest show of shows!
The daisy under the lilac-bush,
And the violet by the rose!
Down by the mill, down by the mill,
Through all the summer hours,
Some so high and some so low,
But all as fair as fair can grow,
Down by the water, bright and still,
My beautiful, beautiful flowers!

O the little maid of the mill,
That dazzles and deceives,
With a head as bright as the daffodil,
And a hand like the lily leaves,
She it is that makes them grow
Through all the summer hours;
They with cloaks of speckled dyes,
And they with hoods about their eyes.
Meek and modest and high and low;
She can tell, if tell she will,
Why they dazzle down by the mill,
My beautiful, beautiful flowers!