Desert Lilies
Desert lilies, desert lilies!
Blooming gaily in the sand
Of this untrodden land;
With your leaf as soft and green,
With your flower as fair in tint,
As delicate in form
As beautiful in hue,
As fragrant and as fresh,
As sweet at morn or even,
As bright with smiles and dew,
As in our happier plains
Cherished by genial rains.
Desert lilies, desert lilies!
Shining quietly like gems,
Upon your verdant stems;
With no breath of man to dim you,
With no city smoke to taint you,
With no hand of man to pluck you,
With no eye of man to see you,
With no care of man to tend you,
With no child's glad face to watch you,
As you spring and as you bloom;
With no sorrowing lip to mourn you,
As you fade and as you die.
Nought but the wind's caress
In this lone wilderness!
Desert lilies, desert lilies!
Bidding welcome to the ray
Of this fierce-flaming day,
Courting no cloud, nor shade
Of rock, or cliff, or glade,
Opening your purple eyes
Unfearing to these skies.
What sunlight ye have seen,
What moonshine in these heavens,
What starlight clear and glad,
What soft dew at early dawn,
What cool breezes o'er this waste!
What sunsets ye have seen,
On these wondrous peaks around,
What tints of purple glow,
At sunset or at morn?
What strange and solemn airs
Have ye heard, as all night long
Ye listened, night by night,
Coming forth from you wild crags,
Moving out along these slopes,
Stealing down yon mighty hill
To the silent sands beneath,
Creeping through the wiry boughs,
Of these tarfas far and near.
O life, how glad and blest,
Thou seem'st in such a waste!
O beauty, what a power,
To cheer in loneliest hour!
O earth where is the spot,
Which thy God visits not?
On which his eye of light
Rests not in gentle love;
O'er its most barren sands,
Rejoicing from above!
O desert rocks, if one small leaf
Can make these wastes look fair,
What will ye be when these scorched plains,
Earth's richest buds shall bear?
When eastern suns shall cease to scorch
And storms no more destroy;
And these lone valleys shall give forth
Their streams, and flowers, and joy.
Blooming gaily in the sand
Of this untrodden land;
With your leaf as soft and green,
With your flower as fair in tint,
As delicate in form
As beautiful in hue,
As fragrant and as fresh,
As sweet at morn or even,
As bright with smiles and dew,
As in our happier plains
Cherished by genial rains.
Desert lilies, desert lilies!
Shining quietly like gems,
Upon your verdant stems;
With no breath of man to dim you,
With no city smoke to taint you,
With no hand of man to pluck you,
With no eye of man to see you,
With no care of man to tend you,
With no child's glad face to watch you,
As you spring and as you bloom;
With no sorrowing lip to mourn you,
As you fade and as you die.
Nought but the wind's caress
In this lone wilderness!
Desert lilies, desert lilies!
Bidding welcome to the ray
Of this fierce-flaming day,
Courting no cloud, nor shade
Of rock, or cliff, or glade,
Opening your purple eyes
Unfearing to these skies.
What sunlight ye have seen,
What moonshine in these heavens,
What starlight clear and glad,
What soft dew at early dawn,
What cool breezes o'er this waste!
What sunsets ye have seen,
On these wondrous peaks around,
What tints of purple glow,
At sunset or at morn?
What strange and solemn airs
Have ye heard, as all night long
Ye listened, night by night,
Coming forth from you wild crags,
Moving out along these slopes,
Stealing down yon mighty hill
To the silent sands beneath,
Creeping through the wiry boughs,
Of these tarfas far and near.
O life, how glad and blest,
Thou seem'st in such a waste!
O beauty, what a power,
To cheer in loneliest hour!
O earth where is the spot,
Which thy God visits not?
On which his eye of light
Rests not in gentle love;
O'er its most barren sands,
Rejoicing from above!
O desert rocks, if one small leaf
Can make these wastes look fair,
What will ye be when these scorched plains,
Earth's richest buds shall bear?
When eastern suns shall cease to scorch
And storms no more destroy;
And these lone valleys shall give forth
Their streams, and flowers, and joy.
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