Henry O'Meara Ballads of America

NYMPHOEA DEVONIENSIS

(THE NIGHT-BLOOMING WATER LILY)

NAIAD of flowers, now supine, yet not sleeping,
With petals 'neath half-parted sepals peeping,
Prone on the lake, and shy, till day's declining,
Hoarding pure dyes of pink through all its shining -
Not as the sirens of cerulean guise
That vaunt the sapphire of meridian skies -
That lure at noon - at night their jewels hide -
You spread vermilion cheer at eventide;
Claiming the charm of sunset's lingering glow -
Lovingly hold heaven's carmine beams below;
As if your kin of far-off Pharaoh's days
Had charged you 'gainst a term of banished rays

When space from last-lit rim to long-reft dome,
Should lapse to gloom of mural monochrome;
You gleam through soundless depths of wave and night
In symphonies of vibrant, florid light.

Whether of floral or fair human kind,
Nymph of sun-tinted form or love-hued mind,
Self-merged in storing joys for darkened hours
While halcyon sunshine woos the floating flowers;
For bloom like yours men's Fancy fragrant turns -
Grateful their frankincense of tribute burns!

TO THE GOLDEN ROD	CONTENTS	THE HEROES OF MONTMARTRE

Henry O'Meara Ballads of America

NYMPHOEA DEVONIENSIS

(THE NIGHT-BLOOMING WATER LILY)

Edited and formatted by Sheldon Brown