A Flower Fable

White queen of all the garden walk,'
   A Lily by the garden wall
   Stood like a lady fair and tall,
   And like a lily by her stood
   A Lady, queen of Womanhood,
And the pure sisters joined in talk.

The Lily said: “I saw, last night,
   Your gallant lover lift the wine
   And touch it to those lips divine,
   Low whispering, ‘Drink, my Lily Queen!
   Life, love, and beauty glow within!'
And you out-blushed its rosy light.

“I, too, am Queen, O Lady fair!
   No more I seek the tasteless dew:
   Give me that royal nectar, too!”
   The Lady smiled and poured the cup,
   And deep the Lily quaffed it up,
And nodded in the moonlit air!

“Sweet Sister, for your flattering tongue
   I give the boon, and so, good night!"
   The Lady floated out of sight,
   And from the garden seem to bear
   The beauty of the moonlit air,
And leave a shadow o'er it hung.

At eve she brought the moonlight back,
   But not the beauty of the flower;
   Poor Empress of the garden bower!
   She withered with a sickening breath,
   Her pearly petals drooped in death,
‘Life, love, and beauty,' dead and black!

“Alas, my Sweet!" the Lady sighed,
   “Is love so deadly, pledged in wine?
   Forever, then these lips of mine,
   A bloom from God, shall shut their leaves
   Against a cup that so deceives,—
Just learning life from this that died!"