I came upon a pool as still as air --
A blue lagoon, cool-chaste as moonlit jade.
My footsteps on the brink no echo made,
And there was not one murmur anywhere.
The quiet dusk unbound her soft, brown hair,
A noiseless leaf fell through the cool, green shade;
And one long slender shadow seemed to wade
In soundlessness across the stillness there.
I felt a cool breeze touch me and depart;
There was a phantom rustle at my ear --
A ghost's thin voice that whispered "Death" to me.
I heard my own soul tapping at my heart:
Yet as I turned to leave that place in fear
A snow-white lily opened languidly.
First published in The Bulletin, 31 January 1924
