This And That - A poem by James Wilkinson

This and That.

A lily fair,
Burdened with care,
Eked out a plain existence
In a corner spot
Of a pasture lot,
Quite free from the sun's assistance.

Tho' lily fair,
Had naught to spare
Of bright and jeweled splendor;
She gave to all
In captive's thrall,
A welcome warm and tender.

And she could be,
Of all most free,
And meek and mild and winning;
And who'd not love
A poor, pure dove
Quite free from the vale of sinning !

A violet bright
As the stars of night,
Shone forth with beauty beaming,
From a palace grand
With walls of sand,
And with dew on her petals gleaming.

Yet violets true
With eyes of blue,
Was quite serene in fashion;
None could of her
One freak prefer,
Nor repose beneath her passion.

Now it was she
Who strove to be
The pride of state and nation;
But pride in word
This truth deferred,
And alone she served her ration.

The lily is pale,
The violet blue,
We admire this marked relation;
But violet is stale,
The lily true,
Who cares for wealth or station?

^__James Wilkinson.

Hours in Dreamland
James Wilkinson
(Buffalo: The Peter Paul Book Company. 1896)
Pages 158-159