THE POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
69 
THE LILY. 
BY JAMES G. PERCIVAL. 
1 HAD founi out a sweet green spot 
Where a lily was blooming fair; 
The din of the city disturb’d it not; 
But the spirit that shades the quiet cot 
With its wings of love was there. 
I found that lily’s bloom 
When the day was dark and chill: 
It smiled like a star in a misty gloom, 
And it sent abroad a sweet perfume, 
Which is floating around me still. 
I sat by the lily’s bell, 
And watch’d it many a day:— 
The leaves, that rose in a flowing swell, 
Grew faint and dim, then droop’d and fell, 
And the flower had flown away. 
I look’d where the leaves were laid, 
In withering paleness, by; 
And as gloomy thoughts stole on me, said, 
There’s many a sweet and blooming maid 
Who will soon as dimlv die. 
