Classic Poem

Three lilies grew in a garden
That looked upon the sea;
These lilies white, they had a right
To be beloved of me.
I ask no man a pardon
That, all within my garden,
I loved those lilies three.

Three men came in my garden,
Three men from o'er the sea;
One black as night, one gold-bedight,
And one that looked at me,
And praised my growing garden:
I ask my God for pardon,
I loved him of the three.

Strange things come out of the sea:
I loved him well, ah me!
There came a wind that blights the kind
Of flowers lilies be.
Mary, Mother of charity,
Now I pray for pardon:
Here, within my garden,
Sin came unto me;
Mother, I call to thee;
Right the rue that came unto
The lily-blooms and me!