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Title:  The Water Lily
Author: Henry Lawson
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 2001111h.html
Language: English
Date first posted:  September 2020
Most recent update: September 2020

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The Water Lily

by
 Henry Lawson

A Poem Set to Music

Poem by Henry Lawson, published in “The Dawn” Sydney,  NSW 5 December 1890

Sheet music by Christian Hellemann, first published in 1937

[Also see our ebook containing the full poem.]


“THE WATER-LILIE.”
Suggested by a curious dream related to the writer by a lady  friend.
        A lonely young  wife
          In her dreaming discerns
          A lily-decked pool
          With a border of ferns,
          And a beautiful child,
          With butterfly wings,
  Trips down to the edge of the water and sings,—
          “Come, mamma! come!
          Quick! follow me—
  Step out on the leaves of the water-lilié!”
        And the lonely young wife,
          Her heart beating wild,
          Cries, “Wait till I come,
          Till I reach you, my child!”
          But the beautiful child
          With butterfly wings
  Steps out on the leaves of the lilies and sings,—
          “Come, mamma! come!
          Quick! follow me!
  And step on the leaves of the water-lilié!”
        And the wife in her dreaming
          Steps out on the stream,
          But the lily leaves sink
          And she wakes from her dream.
          Ah, the waking is sad,
          For the tears that it brings,
  And she knows ’tis her dead baby’s spirit that sings,—
          “Come, mamma! come!
          Quick! follow me!
  Step out on the leaves of the water-lilié!”

Music Sheets 







THE END



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