AUGUST. 321 



Up rose the Lily, the white water Lily, 

 And the mild zephyr fann'd her emerald wing ; 

 Along the water's undulation hilly 

 She pois'd her snowy turban, murmuring, 

 Half sleepy, and half loath so soon to bring 

 Upon the wave her whiteness, sad she stood, 

 A bridal half unwilling offering, 

 Smiling and pouting in her dark green hood, 

 While the broad drifting leaves upheld her lassitude. 



But the sun calls, and she obeys her sire, 

 And her white rays in negligence profuse 

 She opens wide 5 complete in her attire, 

 The orb of day with admiration views 

 The white-rob'd beauty that his rays produce ; 

 Around her, 'midst the leaves that flap and play, 

 A bevy of half-opening lilies chuse 

 Their various stations, clad in green and gray, 

 Her train, like orbs of gold,* glide o'er the watery way. 



Bright lake ! thus beautiful with sunbeams chas'd, 

 As on a darksome cloud a gleam of light : 

 And with thy myriad silver lilies grac'd, 

 Mimicking Ocean in his surgy might, 

 When white arid green his waves dance on the sight 

 I view thee as a scene in life's dull play ; 

 An ornament, a moment to requite 

 The tedious toils that now beset my way, 

 The ills that have been borne, the griefs that must or may. 



Graceful and majestic on the waters as the swan 

 among birds, the white "Water-lily cannot be exceeded 

 for beauty among British aquatics, and its loveliness 

 is heightened when, as the morning mist slowly rolls 

 away, the globose flowers are disclosed opening with 

 coy reluctance before the overpowering rays of the 

 exciting and fervid sun. Indeed, truly as poetically, 

 these charming flowers expand only in bright weather, 



* The Yellow Water-lily (Nuphar lutea'). 

 T 



