[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]
The Lily
Oh ! what thoughts the opening lily
Brings to me of Heavenly power ;
Simple, modest, humble, lowly,
Drooping soft this tender flower !
Lo ! it stayed our Saviour’s footsteps,
He who robed it in its grace ;
He who spoke the words that gave it
In our hearts a lasting place.
Ever graceful, ever bowing.
In its lowliness of birth,
Still unfolding snow-white buddings,
Purest of their hues on earth ;
In the shadows of the gloaming
Still its loveliness we find,
And how often has its beauty
Showered peace upon the mind !
Gently mingling in its breathings
Hallowed incense of the vale ;
Waving, with unbounded sweetness,
To the meadow’s Summer gale :
And when light is waning faintly,
Folding in its leaves the sigh,
Only uttered once by beauty,
In her parting last Good-bye !
Ballarat, September, 11, 1886.
Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, pages 107-108
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