52 Tall Bearded Iris 



In their gowns of crinkled silk, 

 Golden-banded, ranked in order. 

 Brilliant as the sunset fire is, 

 Black as bull's blood, white as milk, 

 Stand within our garden border 

 Troops of Iris. 



Susan 0. Moberly: Japan Iris, 



Then in the valley, where the brook went by, 



Silvering the ledges that it rippled from 



An isolated slip of fallen sky 



Epitomizing heaven in its sum 



An Iris bloomed blue, as if flower-disguised 



The gaze of Spring had there materialized. 



But most of all, yea, it were well for me, 

 Me and my heart, that I forget that flower, 

 The blue wild Iris, azure Fleur-de-lis, 

 That she and I together found that hour. 

 Its recollection can but emphasize 

 The pain of loss, remindful of her eyes. 



C awe in: A Wild Iris. 



But no bobolink of mine, 

 Ever sang o'er mead so fine, 

 Starred with flames of every hue, 

 Gold and purple, white and blue; 

 Painted-cup, anemone, 

 Jacob's ladder, Fleur-de-lis 



John Burroughs: Lapland Longspur. 



