In busy kitchens, in olden days,
Tansy was used in a score of ways;
Chopped and pounded,
when cooks would make
Tansy puddings and tansy cake,
Tansy posset, or tansy tea;
Physic or flavouring tansy’d be.
People who know
Have told me so!
That is my tale of the past; today,
Still I’m here by the King’s Highway,
Where the air from the fields
is fresh and sweet,
With my fine-cut leaves and my flowers neat.
Were ever such button-like flowers seen—
Yellow, for elfin coats of green?
Three in a row—
I stitch them so!