And wilt thou wither a virgin pale, `Or flourish a blooming bride?= “O the Rose is old, and thorny, and cold, `And he lives on earth,” said she; “But the Star is fair and he lives in the air. `And he shall my bridegroom be.”= But what if the stormy cloud should come, `And ruffle the silver sea? Would he turn his eye from the distant sky, `To smile on a thing like thee?= O no, fair Lily, he will not send `One ray from his far-off throne; The winds shall blow and the waves shall flow, `And thou wilt be left alone.= There is not a leaf on the mountain top, `Nor a drop of evening dew, Nor a golden sand on the sparkling shore, `Nor a pearl in the waters blue, That he has not cheered with his fickle smile, `And warmed with his faithless beam,-- And will he be true to a pallid flower, `That floats on the quiet stream?= Alas for the Lily! she would not heed, `But turned to the skies afar. And bared her breast to the trembling ray That shot from the rising star;= The cloud came over the darkened sky, `And over the waters wide: She looked in vain through the beating rain, `And sank in the stormy tide.= End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonderful “One-Hoss-Shay”, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.