“I’d like to be a water-lily sleeping on the river,
Where solemn rushes whisper, and funny ripples quiver.
All day I’d watch the blue sky, all night I’d watch the black,
Floating in the soft waves, dreaming on my back,
And when I’d tired of dreaming, I’d call a passing fish,
“I want to find the sea!” I’d shout, “Come! You can grant my wish!”

He’d bite me from my moorings, and softly I would slip
To the center of the river like an ocean-going ship.
The waves would laugh upon me. The wind would blow me fast,
And oh, what shores and wonders would greet me as I passed!
Yes, if I were a water-lily, I’d sail to sea in state
A green frog for my captain and a dragon-fly for my mate!”
A poem by John Chipman Farrar.
🌺

“Waterlilyleaf”