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: ] afan 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. 



Cawein: A Wild Ir 



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. 



