| THE SUN stepped down from his golden throne, | |
| And lay in the silent sea, | |
| And the Lily had folded her satin leaves, | |
| For a sleepy thing was she; | |
| What is the Lily dreaming of? | 5 |
| Why crisp the waters blue? | |
| See, see, she is lifting her varnished lid! | |
| Her white leaves are glistening through! | |
| |
| The Rose is cooling his burning cheek | |
| In the lap of the breathless tide;— | 10 |
| The Lily hath sisters fresh and fair, | |
| That would lie by the Rose's side; | |
| He would love her better than all the rest, | |
| And he would be fond and true;— | |
| But the Lily unfolded her weary lids, | 15 |
| And looked at the sky so blue. | |
| |
| Remember, remember, thou silly one, | |
| How fast will thy summer glide, | |
| And wilt thou wither a virgin pale, | |
| Or flourish a blooming bride? | 20 |
| "O the rose is old, and thorny, and cold, | |
| And he lives on earth," said she; | |
| "But the Star is fair and he lives in the air, | |
| And he shall my bridegroom be." | |
| |
| But what if the stormy cloud should come, | 25 |
| And ruffle the silver sea? | |
| Would he turn his eye from the distant sky, | |
| To smile on a thing like thee? | |
| O no, fair Lily, he will not send | |
| One ray from his far-off throne; | 30 |
| The winds shall blow and the waves shall flow, | |
| And thou wilt be left alone. | |
| |
| There is not a leaf on the mountain-top | |
| Nor a drop of evening dew, | |
| Nor a golden sand on the sparkling shore, | 35 |
| Nor a pearl in the waters blue, | |
| That he has not cheered with his fickle smile, | |
| And warmed with his faithless beam,— | |
| And will he be true to a pallid flower, | |
| That floats on the quiet stream? | 40 |
| |
| Alas for the Lily! she would not heed, | |
| But turned to the skies afar, | |
| And bared her breast to the trembling ray | |
| That shot from the rising star; | |
| The cloud came over the darkened sky, | 45 |
| And over the waters wide: | |
| She looked in vain through the beating rain, | |
| And sank in the stormy tide. | |
