Classic Poem

Lonely , beautiful, and stilly
Floats each leafy water lily,
Never rival claim contesting,
Only radiant—only resting
Through a pleasant summer dream
On a gentle, gentle stream:
Dying on the brimming flood
Calmly as they came to bud.
All the lilies, liquid-lustred
With the dew-drops that have clustered
In their shallow, limpid hollows
Where the gnats avoid the swallows,
In the loving waters grow
While their shadows shine below,
But their sheltered hearts of gold
Unreflectedly unfold.