Part 4 — THE MAIDEN AND THE LILY
Reading edition
A lily in my garden grew, Amid the thyme and clover; No fairer lily ever blew, Search all the wide world over. Its beauty passed into my heart: I know 'twas very silly, But I was then a foolish maid, And it—a perfect lily.
One day a learned man came by, With years of knowledge laden, And him I questioned with a sigh, Like any foolish maiden:— "Wise sir, please tell me wherein lies— I know the question's silly— The something that my art defies, And makes a perfect lily."
He smiled, then bending plucked the flower, Then tore it, leaf and petal, And talked to me for full an hour, And thought the point to settle:— "Therein it lies," at length he cries; And I—I know 'twas silly— Could only weep and say, "But where— O doctor, where's my lily?"
John Fraser [1750-1811]