Explore "The Message of the Lilies" by Madison Cawein on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
My soul and I went walking / Beneath the moon of Spring; / The lilies pale were talking, / Were faintly murmuring.
From dimly moonlit places / They thrust long throats of white, / And lovely lifted faces / Of fragrant snow and light.
Their language was an essence, / Yet clearer than a bird's; / And from it grew a presence / As music grows from words.
A spirit born of silence / And chastity and dew / Among Elysian islands / Were not more white to view.
A spirit born of fire / And holiness and snow / Within the Heavens' desire, / Were not more pure to know.
He smiled amid them lifting / Pale hands of prayer and peace -- / And through the moonlight, drifting, / Came words to me like these:
"We are His lilies, lilies, / Whose praises aye we sing! / We are the lilies, lilies / Of Christ our Lord and King! "