The families of orchis,
they are the strangest clan,
With spots and twists resembling
a bee, or fly, or man;
And some are in the hot-house,
and some in foreign lands,
But Early Purple Orchis
in English pasture stands.
He loves the grassy hill-top
he breathes the April air;
He knows the baby rabbits,
he knows the Easter hare,
The nesting of the skylarks,
the bleat of lambkins too,
The cowslips, and the rainbow,
the sunshine, and the dew.
O orchids of the hot-house,
what miles away you are!
O flaming tropic orchids,
how far, how very far!