164 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



And when the wind sweeps by them, 



On their emerald stalks 



They bend so proud and graceful, 



They are Circassian women, 



The favorites of the Sultan, 



Adown our garden walks. 



And when the rain is falling, 



I sit beside the window 



And watch them glow and glisten, 



How they burn and glow ! 



O for the burning lilies, 



The tender Eastern lilies 



The gorgeous tiger-lilies, 



That in our garden grow. 



Shakespeare has many beautiful passages concern- 

 ing the lily. He often refers to its whiteness. He 

 considers it as impossible a task "to paint the lily' 9 

 as it is "to gild refined gold," or "to throw a per- 

 fume on the violet." 



How the lily was loved by the ancients! The 

 Egyptians adored it; the Persians named cities for 

 it; the Hebrews worshiped it. The Greeks and 

 Romans called the lily Juno's flower, and fancied 

 that the flower owed its very existence to drops of 

 milk spilled on earth from Juno's white breast when 

 she was nursing the infant Hercules. 



The church consecrated the lily to the Virgin 

 Mary. It was her flower as Queen of Heaven. In 



