^OF DREAMS ^ most P ei "f ect symbol of beauty, and purity, 

 and love. 



This water-lily, here in the pool close by, 

 is she a sister? The botanist says not, and yet 

 we always know her as the water-lily. 



And who would give her any other name? 

 True, she is dedicated to the water-nymphs, 

 but she has the lily's face and the lily's heart. 

 There must be a relationship that the botanist 

 has not discovered. None of the family has 

 texture more delicate, purity more spotless, 

 or beauty more exquisite. Though held to the 

 face of the pool, no flower is more kindred to 

 the sky. As we look we recall Lucy Larcom's 

 fine lines — 



"From the reek of the pool the lily 

 Has risen in raiment white, 

 A spirit of air and water, 



A form of incarnate light. 

 Yet, except for the rooted stem 

 That steadies her diadem, 

 Except for the earth she is nourished by, 

 Could the soul of the lily have climbed to the sky?" 



In art nothing expresses better the spiritual 

 quality of this flower than the dreamy, sway- 



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