Poems (Hoffman)/Lily of the Nile

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

LILY OF THE NILE

Queenly lily, fair and fragrant,
 I have watched thy charms unroll
'Till thy gold embossed scepter
 Gleams against thy spotless scroll.
  Stately Ethiopian princess
  From thy realm a fair exile
  Vieing with the rose in sweetness.
  Queenly lily of the Nile.

Lovely in thy child-like beauty,
 Yet majestic in thy pride;
Could'st thou be more sweetly gracious
 Nodding by the river side?
  Breath like zephyrs freshly laden
  From some flower-wreathed ocean isle;
  Snow-white Ethiopian maiden,
  Modest lily of the Nile.

Dost thou feel no pang of longing,
 Dost thou breathe no weary sigh
For thy native, Orient splendor—
 For thy native, sunlit sky?
  Far away, thou knowest not whither,
  Many, many a weary mile,
  Thy fair sisters bloom and wither,
  Stately lily of the Nile.

Bloom beneath the palm-tree's shadow
 Just along the river's brink,
Where gay birds, with brilliant plumage
 Soar to sing, and stoop to drink.
  Plucked by Egypt's dark-eyed daughters
  To adorn some granite pile—
  Fresher from their native waters,
  Snowy lily of the Nile.

'Midst those scenes of Eastern splendor
 Thy ancestral race began—
Where the night of heathen darkness
 Spread abroad its withering ban;
  Yet no spot of man's transgressing
  Could thy purity defile,
  Looking heavenward for each blessing,
  Saintly lily of the Nile.

Did they view thy purer glory
 With their darkened minds unawed?
Did they learn of thee no lesson
 Of the power and love of God?
  Like a spotless, white-winged angel
  Sent to them untouched by guile,
  Did they spurn thy glad evangel,
  Spotless lily of the Nile?

O, could they have looked from Nature
 Unto Nature's God alone,
Would they not have scorned to worship
 Images of wood and stone?
  Would they not, thy beauty seeing,
  Have looked up in faith erewhile
  To the God who gave thee being
  Matchless lily of the Nile?