The Lilies

Ever the garden has a spiritual word: In the slow lapses of unnoticed time It drops from heaven, or upward learns to climb, Breathing an earthly sweetness, as a bird Is in the porches of the morning heard; So, in the garden, flower to flower will chime, And with the music thought and feeling rhyme, And the hushed soul is with new glory stirred.

Beauty is silent,—through the summer day Sleeps in her gold,—O wondrous sunlit gold, Frosting the lilies' virginal array! Green, full-leaved walls the fragrant sculpture hold, Warm, orient blooms!—how motionless are they— Speechless—the eternal loveliness untold!