Oh Lovely As A Lily Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Oh lovely as a lily was my son
Tender, the cherry lip that milked my love
A gilded cage to guard my pretty one
I fashioned him, a rainbow for a dove

An unkind Springtime sought the lily's fall
A stormy summer dashed the dancing prow
His cherry lip was seared by autumn's gall
And Winter set the thorn upon his brow

Drought twists the gentle sapling's lissom head
The maggot, Blight, devours the cherry's heart
A pestilence despoils the lily's bed
Cannibal storm rends the flower apart

Oh lovely as a lily was my son
The very dewdropp smiled to see him pass
A robber stole his innocence, long gone
I fear the serpent waiting in the grass