HARK! by Ellen Knight Bradford

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 3, 1900

HARK!

By Ellen Knight Bradford

Would you like to know what I hear, dear heart, When the snow is melted away, And I lay my ear to the soft warm ground On a sunny April day!

I hear the rootlets running along, Bringing little garments rare To clothe the flowers that have hurried up To breathe the sweet spring air.

One carries a hood for the Violet dear, Lest the air should give her chills; And one a hat for the Dandelion, All trimmed with golden quills;

Another brings a bunch of caps Of pink and blue and white, And under each little Hyacinth chin They're fastened snug and tight.

And I hear a rustle like dainty silks As the tiny waists are made That over the forms of the Tulips fair And the Crocus are tenderly laid.

And then I hear them scamper away To the hills where the brooklets run, And, filling their buckets, they hasten back With a drink for every one.

O dear little flowers, for you and for me There are caretakers hidden from sight, Who work in the dark our whole lives through That we may have sweetness and light! — Ellen Knight Bradford.