Floral Poetry . 
T 43 
TO THE WHITE WATER-LILY. 
H YMPH of the slow, deep, silvery stream, 
In queen-like splendour drest, 
How sweetly to the orient beam 
Thou op’st thy spotless breast. 
Pure through the golden hours of day 
Thy beauty courts the light; 
But, cautious, wrapt in close array, 
Thou shield’st it from the night. 
But when returned, the god of day 
The fields of ether warms, 
Sweet flower! thou spring’st to hail his ray, 
Beaming in all thy charms. 
Nymph of the stream, how bright, how fair, 
Thy pearly petals shine ! 
Not robes that eastern monarchs wear 
Display such charms as thine. 
Then bloom, sweet flower! and long preside 
Majestic o’er the stream; 
The rustic’s joy, the florist’s pride, 
The poet’s darling theme. 
Thomas Gillet. 
