OUR LILIES.
Beautiful lily, so pure and pale,
Lightly poised on thy slender stem,
Soon, soon, shall wither thy petals frail—
But another lily must fade with them.
Lightly poised on thy slender stem,
Soon, soon, shall wither thy petals frail—
But another lily must fade with them.
Another lily as pure and pale,
Beautiful, but so still and cold;
Broken its life-stem in the gale,
Before its petals could quite unfold.
Beautiful, but so still and cold;
Broken its life-stem in the gale,
Before its petals could quite unfold.
Did we guess when thy tiny bud appeared
On a dewy morn, forever past,
Where with our broken bud endeared,
Thy beautiful form should fade at last?
On a dewy morn, forever past,
Where with our broken bud endeared,
Thy beautiful form should fade at last?
We have chosen thee for the little hands
That shall gather earth's blossoms nevermore;
But we know she sings with the angel bands,
Midst the fadeless fields of the other shore.
That shall gather earth's blossoms nevermore;
But we know she sings with the angel bands,
Midst the fadeless fields of the other shore.
God walked in His garden and saw it there,
The dear human bud that His love had given;
He knew earth's desert was bleak and bare,
And took it to bloom midst the flowers of Heaven.
The dear human bud that His love had given;
He knew earth's desert was bleak and bare,
And took it to bloom midst the flowers of Heaven.
Where the storms of time can never scar
Its fragile form with their cruelty;
Where the dust of earth can never mar
The pearl of its perfect purity.
Its fragile form with their cruelty;
Where the dust of earth can never mar
The pearl of its perfect purity.
Beautiful lily so unalloyed,
Thy sisters shall blossom nor sigh for thee;
But oh the measureless empty void
In hearts and homes that must ever be.
Thy sisters shall blossom nor sigh for thee;
But oh the measureless empty void
In hearts and homes that must ever be.
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