"THESE WORDS SHE SPAKE AND ALIGHTED SOON ON THE WATERS' LIMPID BREAST."
In the morning sun, as pure as heaven,
A thousand lilies basked;
For Wah-be-gwan-nee, water lily,
The Indian children asked.
"In the southern sky this bright star lived;
Her brethren can be seen
Far off in the cold North, hunting the bear:
Meanwhile, with ardor keen,
Her sisters watch from East and West,
And here, an exile lone,
She sees her heavenly kindred fair
In the home that was her own.
"My children, when the lilies pure
You pluck from the placid lake,
Hold them toward heaven, their rightful home,
Abandoned for your sake.
So they may be happy here on earth
As any sister star
That, stationed in the summer sky,
Gleams brightly from afar."
IDA SEXTON SEARLS.