(“The Lips That He Has Prest.”)

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THE STAR AND THE WATER-LILY.

|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?

`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;--

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,

`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?=

“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,

`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;

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,

`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?=

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,

`And over the waters wide:

She looked in vain through the beating rain,

`And sank in the stormy tide.=