Fragrant flag and iris bedsFringed with purple arrow-heads.
Little moving waves of airQuiver o'er the grasses fair;On the shining water blueBroad round leaves are shining too;Lilies, dreaming in the sun—From the bank I peeped in one,And the petals, wide apart,Showed a sun within its heart.And the rushes tall and free,Like a forest seemed to me,With the rice-trees waving 'round.But the silence! Not a sound!Very still the lilies layIn the golden summer day.
Sudden, from the wide blue sky,Whirred a monster Dragon-Fly.Proudly, all alone he came,Armor polished to a flameOn his body, and his wings,Gauzy, wondrous, shining things,Seemed to catch the water's blue,And the yellow sunbeams, too.He's a hermit, and the spotWe had found, it seems, was not
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