The Lily Poem by John Rickell

Daylight dawned
through gossamer mists
awe struck birds silent
at the orange glow.
The porphyry font
glowed in early light,
crimson petals still,
closed in calyx comfort
waiting the searching bee.
I sat to watch the shadows fade
leaned to touch, half afraid
to scare the water boatman
skimming in the lily pads
reached across the ferns
at the water’s edge,
withdrew each time
ashamed to wake the flower.
Waiting for the sun,
lying on the grass
shivers down my spine,
I saw the petals open
the lily flower drifting
to the shallow beach,
let me kiss
its velvet crimson
stroked away my cares,
tasted of the nectar
sweet and honey scented
rare as oyster pearl,
woke the nymph within the bloom
who stepping out
cast away her mantle
and came to lie with me,
Offered more than I could hope
from the lily I had kissed.
the world turned up-side down
spun in dizzy circles,
all sense of time was lost.
The sun now on my back....
let fortune show the way.
How long we lay
until the spinning ceased,
I did not count.
Then she rose and slipped away,
floated to the lily pad
to wait the searching bee.