Luther Burbank

He touched the spiculed desert—cacti-cursed—

And turned its thorns to figs, its thistles, fruit;

He nodded to the daisy, half immersed

In dwarfing dust, and lo! a lily mute

Rose from the weeds—a perfume with a flute.

And flowers ran to meet him—trailing vine—

And wild hedge-roses—they whose souls had died

Beneath the feet of cattle and of kine—

Sought him—those pallid Magdalenes—and cried