SPIRE

Atop a blooming spire I reigned,

Spring's verdant spreads surveyed;

'neath faerie skies with sisters fair

to vernal music swayed.

Alas, dull clouds my course presaged,

'pon dark earth now I lie;

tho’ fruiting's gift I am denied,

I would live, ere I die.

'Neath blossom'd canopy I rest,

my eyes the Sun's arc trace;

erelong shall hallowed gilded rays

my path to Heaven grace.

My gaze 'pon lilys' nimbus falls -

their mists the glade perfuse;

a silver spear of crane flies trails

to sedges’ fir’lit hues.

O'er breezes’ sun-kissed notes he glides

'pon pallid gauzy wings,

oft tarries, sudden darts as tho,

cast forth from faery slings.

As car’vels fey would I a spell

o'er scented flurries sail;

my sparkle wanes as evening falls,

at dawn shall my breath fail.

A starling trills, his joyful song

the violet air pervades;

the gloaming now betimes descends,

my heady fragrance fades.

A breeze my drooping form revives,

restoring vapours show'rs,

the Moon’s soft rills 'pon Earth cascade,

with pearl tint fallen flow'rs.

The woodsman's homeward path we deck

with wimpling streams of light;

our flames, tho’ swift their brightness ebbs,

the swells of darkness smite.

Our kin this earthly service done,

shall life’s sweet tides abate,

my torment cease, my petals droop,

eternal sleep await.

Of white walks thro' the clouds I dream,

of dewy swathes on high,

Anon shall yon azure bells chime,

leagued with dawn's gentle eye.

Thro’ waves celestial I shall drift

o'er morning's crimson beams,

atop a Golden Spire to rest,

if this He fitting deems.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: kaifineart.com
Artist: John William Godward

SPRING'S WAY

Flowers of her reverie Zephyrus
scatters to the skies, meadows
of leafless alabaster moulds
from brume and dawn;
'mid their airy swells her course
she charts, scented delights of
vernal feasting contrives.

Dreams and waking in her breath
unite, in her golden fingers
poised, for Elysium's will to trace
'pon earthly spreads.
Moments silent tread in deference
to Zeus' emissary, divine agency
of birth and blossoming. 

Nacred green she melds into violet
fringing primrose;
tangled branches, supple, sinuous,
into bowers she braids, for the Sun
to ensnare, for his radiance
to rain into willing hearts, whence  
her victory she proclaims.

Silvered bells her praises ring,
as the myrtle with pearly blooms
she dusts. Gilded goblets gleeful
girth glowing waters,
their nectar with perfumed showers
alloy, her sacred realm pledge,
her restoring reign. 

Thrushes' songs 'pon verduous
waves glide, with her own tune
merge. This varicoloured carillon
into the enchanted air she flings,
for the Horae to honour, for this
ancient sequence to exalt,
for the glory of Time.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: artchive.ru

THE WOOD NYMPH

My treasured lyr' I joyful string,
sweetest paeans to Spring compose;
with meadow larks my sisters sing,
as 'pon her green robes they repose.

The woods she fills with violet scents,
with purple stars the hedges studs;
o'er barren boughs she loving bends,
into the dawn bids bashful buds.

'Neath her touch, tender petals swell,
jubilant hues the valleys throng;
of such the chirping minstrels tell,
blooms' whispers weave into their song.

Her fragrance mingles with the tides,
as dawn's mist hovers o'er the lake;
'pon gilded wafts she gentle glides,
drifts of bluebells leaves in her wake.

Her pale beams o'er the treetops swirl,
as honey thro' the branches run;
'long tender bark sweet droplets pearl,
as jewels glisten in the sun.

Her blooming would I emulate,
may vernal chimes my refrains trim;
my airs to her realms elevate, 
as earthly souls with her light brim.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: A SEA SPELL

Source: fineartarchives.com

Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

BOON

Twilight descends with the swiftness

of a dream; its beauty her

shrouded heart does not see, nor the

scintillating arch on high,

Heaven's own coronet curved athwart

the looming purple range.

Anon the music fades, its dominion the

dark now gluts. Shadows 

veil starry beams, the wind grows mute,

as evensong ends. Empty

words emanate from weary throats that

scarce speak light.

A lonely flower lapped in stillness, shorn

of lightness, its beauty stoic, 

bewildering, as dead leaves in a gale, her

haunted journey she makes, 

as a spectral visitant wanders thro' a sea

of misty, sightless shapes. 

Voices in the woods, liquid forms in the

lake, eyeless apparitions of

her solitude, these are her companions.

All around her they cluster in

softest blackness, dark and discarnate,

their succour warm, palpable.

Beloved faces emerge from the ashes of

her dreams. In their distant

spaces she awaits the sleep that would

overcome breath, the sacred

silence that would enfold her, uncloak

ancient star trails 'pon her soul.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: WATER WILLOW

Source: www.liveinternet.ru

Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

PROVIDENCE

The light alone moves this dawn.
Spring breathes softly;
by her own beauty spellbound,
she smiles into the lake.

Seafoam skies peer through the 
fragrant floral fretwork,
sequins of turquoise light linger
upon my dark locks.

Alas, I am unworthy of this crown,
great goddess! Your riches
enslave my senses, yet, Silence is
the season of my soul.

The irises look askance upon me,
these deities that distil  
rainbows from rain, conjure rarest
perfumes from dark dirt.

Could they construe my disquiet?
Such is inwrought in my
spirit; my steps it hinders, my pale
fingers causes to falter.

Words ride the wind with butterflies
and bees. My parchment
shall remain bare, for they now seek
vernal vellums and hues.

Notes fly from my quill, ere I could
tether them to staves.
They would merge with the spume,
melodise with the waves.

Yet, I smile thro' my tears, for they go
to serve the worthiest Scribe
and Melodist. Gaea would limn her own
blooming this glorious morn.

The Muses attend her, as with Chloris
she allies. In divine verse
and tunes shall I revel, in worship of 
her find joyful redemption.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: kaifineart.com

Artist: John William Godward

EASTER LILY

Angels of Earth, of purest 

radiance wrought,

the chancel you brighten,

your light I sought.

Ancient swathes you

bedeck, Gethsemane's hill,

where the Good Shepherd 

bowed to Heaven's will.

From His sorrow you rose

for man to cheer,

for the pilgrim to guide

thro' hope and fear.

His resurrection shall you

glad proclaim,

all eager hearts touch with

Eastertide's flame.

Your perfume in wreathes

to the skies ascends,

woods and fields hallows,

Nature's own incense.

Chime, fragrant bells,

petalled heralds of birth,

Spring's message bear

to ev'ry child on Earth.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: www.pinterest.com

EYE

A cluster of red-rimmed orbs
admonishes me from
the depths of a looking glass,
an aggregate of Cyclops,
intaglios of Tartarus on
my too thin skin.

Every gasping, gaping gash
gazes in wonderment
through light years at greater
eyes, its pangs sparkling
in each liquescent crystal.

In these swathes of ancient
beauty, in this distant
dominion of divinities littered 
with many-eyed monsters'
childish prayers, our seers
sought the Infinite. 

I count my blessings, these 
wounds that see farther
without, deeper within, than 
the sighted globes my mother's
womb seeded with life.

Elsewhere, in this wreckage
of sinew and bone
dancing upon the edge of a
carousel of blades,
gleams the locus of the Eye
that witnessed the
birth of Truth.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image source: edicion-cys.com

Artist: Vladimir Kush