| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | A Tiger-Lily | | By Edgar Fawcett (1847–1904) |
| | | STRANGE that in your dark-dappled sanguine flower | |
| The sculpturesque repose can still endure | |
| Of that celestial lily, wrought so pure | |
| It lives as chastity’s white type this hour! | |
| By what mysterious art, what baleful power, | 5 |
| Did you, Diana of all blooms, allure | |
| From Nature’s mood this Mænad vestiture, | |
| And mock with gaudy tints your taintless dower? | |
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| Nay, long ago, I dream, through some warm dell | |
| Of Asian lands a wearied tiger stole | 10 |
| Where you, in pale bud, felt your first dews cling; | |
| And while he slept beneath you, it befell | |
| That all his deadly beauty pierced your soul | |
| And made you this fantastic sultry thing! | | | | |
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