IN HENDECASYLLABLES
DYING LILIES
O chaste queens of a fairy flow'ry kingdom,
Beauteous progeny of the kindly sunshine
And soft show'rs, ever in my heart the fragrance
From you stealing awakes a dreamy vision
Of things beautiful, olden, and eternal:
Passing beautiful!—harmonies so dulcet
That they give to me viewless happy pinions,
On which soaring up into lofty temples,
I drink Truth in a world of airy fancy.
Once you liv'd in a fairy flow'ry kingdom,
Lov'd, and ruling it, innocently happy;
Now more beautiful in the hour of old age
You still breathe ev'ry perfume of the woodland,
Drooping gracefully, like the last repining
Of some sage who has help'd the weary people,
23
