Flower-de-Luce
Beautiful lily, dwelling by still rivers,
Or solitary mere,
Or where the sluggish meadow-brook delivers
Its waters to the weir!
Thou laughest at the mill, the whir and worry
Of spindle and of loom,
And the great wheel that toils amid the hurry
And rushing of the flame.
Born in the purple, born to joy and pleasance,
Thou dost not toil nor spin,
But makest glad and radiant with thy presence
The meadow and the lin.
The wind blows, and uplifts thy drooping banner,
And round thee throng and run
The rushes, the green yeomen of thy manor,
The outlaws of the sun.
The burnished dragon-fly is thine attendant,
And tilts against the field,
And down the listed sunbeam rides resplendent
With steel-blue mail and shield.
Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,
Who, armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God.
Thou art the Muse, who far from crowded cities
Hauntest the sylvan streams,
Playing on pipes of reed the artless ditties
That come to us as dreams.
O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river
Linger to kiss thy feet!
O flower of song, bloom on, and make forever
The world more fair and sweet.
Flower-de-Luce, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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13 comments:
Beautiful iris! That's the second Longfellow poem I've read today. Wonderful! Thank you girls, and happy spring to you! We have spring temps today but the rain has returned now, after a lovely morning.
Thanks, WWW. Longfellow is a favorite!
Very nice entry, Wingnut and Curmudgeon, and the photo is exquisite. We just might get some decent weather and actually SEE iris, one of these days. I live in hope, anyhow.
That's a fitting tribute to the royalty of flowers. Do you know if Catherine deMedici brought the Iris symbol to France from Florence?
My irises are a-bloomin' right now. Love the stately look of the flower. Such intricate blooms.
Brenda
It's a new poem to me, but I've heard a couple of stories about iris being the Fleur de Lis...years ago someone passed along some corms of Iris pseudacorus , those yellow iris that live near and in water. She said their presence in a stream of water let soldiers at some battle know there was land beneath.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Wow! Beautiful Iris! :-)
Hi Kerri! Thanks for stopping by. Finally, we have sun here today. Yippy!
Greetings Nancy! Happy GBMD to you!
Carolyn, for once I was able to lay hands quickly on the poem I wanted. Doesn't happen often. Thank goodness the iris cooperated! I've had my eye on it for a week now.
Hi Jodi! Ours seem to be the first irises in town to bloom. We don't know what kind of irises these are as we didn't plant them. Enjoyed your poisson d'avril post.
Hello MMD. Thanks for the visit. CdeM did bring a certain style of fleur de lys with her. But the heraldic use can be traced back to the 13th c. with Louis the VIII and some argue even to Clovis.
Mmmmm, what a yummy color! I wish my iris's were in bloom...did you all have sun yesterday? We did and I nearly worked myself into the ground playing catch up with all of the yard work...
Beautiful flower. Mine have not bloomed yet.
You are loving the purple brussels, huh? I love purple plants, too! I have purple pole beans (not yet planted), purple tomatillo, and purple tomato. I can't remember if I bought the purple cauliflower and I usually have at least a couple of purple basil. Purple sisters! Thank God I found you! Are other people this weird? Truthfully, I try to find the exotic color or form of whatever plant I buy...
Hi, thank you for the comment on my blog supporting the outrageous EU regulations veg growers have to put up with. The Kokopelli book is well worth getting hold of - they are a very interesting organisation.
Celia
Oh Brenda your azaleas are spectacular--and they're not even at peak yet. Does your whole neighborhood just go shades of pinks and reds?
Hi Annie. Yes, iris pseudacorus is considered to be the origin of the fleur-de-lys. I hadn't heard the bit about the yellow iris indicating land to soldiers.
Hello Shady. Each year I'm amazed at how early they open and how stunningly purple they are.
Aunt Debbi, you're in TX and your irises haven't bloomed yet? Go figure.
Hey Jean Ann. Apparently I was a lover of all things purple from the time I could crawl--so says my grandmother. We moved here in August and so didn't even know we had irises til the following spring. What a wonderful surprise it was. No clue what kind they are. Definitely with you on the exotic varieties and colors of plants. But don't appreciate it when they hybridize the scent or pollen right out of things just to get more and bigger blooms.
Greetings Celia. Thanks for stopping by. I'm STILL sputtering expletives in three languages over the unfairness of it all.
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