How To Paint A Water Lily

To Paint a Water LilyA green level of lily

Roofs the pond's chamber and

The flies' furious arena:

These, the two minds of this lady.

First observe the air's

That eats meat, that bullets

Or stands in space to take aim;

Others as dangerous comb the

Under the trees.  There are

And death-cries everywhere

But inaudible, so the eyes

To see the colours of these

Rainbow their arcs, spark, or

Cooling like beads of molten

Through the spectrum.  Think what worseis the pond-bed's matter of course;

Prehistoric bedragoned

Crawl that darkness with Latin names,

Have evolved no improvements there,

Jaws for heads, the set stare,

Ignorant of age as of hour—Now paint the long-necked

Which, deep in both worlds, can be

As a painting, trembling hardly at

Though the dragonfly alight,

Whatever horror nudge her root.