An Ode To Kansas.
O sunny land of Kansas,
O land of joy and grief;
We love thy fertile valleys
That gives forth the golden sheaf.

We love thy winter blizzards,
And we love thy summer showers;
But most of all, O Kansas!
We love thy chosen flower.

O it shows the state is golden,
As it lifts its yellow head;
To welcome forth the sunshine
While the eastern sky's still red.

All the day the sun it faces;
For when he has gone to rest,
You will find the sunflower nodding
Its yellow head to the west.

And through all of our reverses,
The sunflower keeps its place,
Though the farmers' crops are failing,
It still wears a smiling face.

It defies the drouth and drawbacks:
It knows not any foe;
And ah! sometimes, I'm fearing,
It defies the farmer's hoe.

But we're loyal to the Kansas,
And if this be thy chosen flower,
It shall flourish by the wayside
And bloom in every bower.

They may keep their emerald shamrock
And other emblems across the sea;
But as one of Kansas' daughters,
The sunflower is good enough for me.

__Loretta Young.

Poets and Poetry of Kansas
Edited by Thomas W. Herringshaw
Chicago: American Publishers' Association. 1894