Oh Lovely As A Lily

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