[The wild fleur de lis, in] Wayside Flowers

Hayne, Paul Hamilton (1830-1886)

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THE WILD FLEUR DE LIS.

Through the bared forest, by its dreary ways,
That glittered in the ruthless grasp of Frost,
I wandered, where a million leaves were tossed,
The fading trophies of dead, summer days.
There in forlornest solitude, ablaze
With wondrous color, like a fairy lost
In some lone wild, few fairy feet have crossed,
Bloomed a strange Flower amid the woodland maze
Starred in the dimness of that desolate place,
It smiled in dazzling beauty, its fair head
Lifted with soft and yet imperial grace.
Ah, magical Flower!—the blissful type thou art
Of one last Hope, which o'er its brethren dead,
Shines on the frost-bound stillness of the heart!

Once I found a perfect specimen of this flower in a sheltered nook of the Georgia pine-woods, during the depth of winter.

University of Virginia Library

THE WILD FLEUR DE LIS.