LILIES.

LEIGH HUNT.

WE are lilies fair,

The flower of virgin light,

Nature held us forth, and said,
"Lo! my thoughts of white !"

Ever since then, angels

Hold us in their hands;

You may see them where they take In pictures their sweet stands.

Like the garden's angels

Also do we seem,

And not the less for being crowned

With a golden dream.

Could you see around us

The enamoured air,

You would see it pale with bliss
To hold a thing so fair.

WATER LILIES.

E. R. B.

MISTY moonlight, faintly falling, O'er the lake at eventide, Shows a thousand gleaming lilies On the rippling waters wide.