TRE POETRY OF FLOWERS, 69 
THE LILY. 
BY JAMES G. PERCIVAL. 
1 nab found 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 thcughts stole on me, said, 
‘There’s many a sweet and blooming maid 
Who will soon as dimly die. 




