A Broken Lily
O LILY, dropped upon the gray sea-sand,
What time my fair love through the morning land
Led the rejoicing children, singing all
In happy chorus, to their festival,
Under green trees the flowery fields among;
Now, when the noon sun blazes o’er the sea,
And echo tells not of the song they sung,
And all thy silver splendor silently
Thou yieldest to the salt and bitter tide,
I find thee, and, remembering on whose breast
Thy day began in thy fresh beauty’s pride,
Though of thy bloom and fragrance dispossessed,
Thou art to me than all June’s flowers more sweet,
Fairer than Aphrodite’s foam-kissed feet!
