WATER-LILIES III 
Bettine Brentano; “he who is in the midst of 
her loveliness can only lie down and enjoy.” It 
enhances the truth of the poet’s verses, that he 
writes them in his study. Absence is the very 
air of passion, and all the best description is 27 
memoriam. As with our human beloved, when 
the graceful presence is with us, we cannot an- 
alyze or describe, but merely possess, and only 
after its departure can it be portrayed by our 
yearning desires ; so is it with Nature: only in 
losing her do we gain the power to describe 
her, and we are introduced to Art, as we are 
to Eternity, by the dropping away of our com- 
panions. 
