<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 17px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">The Lilies</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><br class=""></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Hunting them, a man must sweat, bear<br class="">
the whine of a mosquito in his ear,<br class="">
grow thirsty, tired, despair perhaps<br class="">
of ever finding them, walk a long way.<br class="">
He must give himself over to chance,<br class="">
for they live beyond prediction.<br class="">
He must give himself over to patience,<br class="">
for they live beyond will. He must be led<br class="">
along the hill as by a prayer.<br class="">
If he finds them anywhere, he will find<br class="">
a few, paired on their stalks,<br class="">
at ease in the air as souls in bliss.<br class="">
I found them here at first without hunting,<br class="">
by grace, as all beauties are first found.<br class="">
I have hunted and not found them here.<br class="">
Found, unfound, they breathe their light<br class="">
into the mind, year after year.</span></p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">- Wendell Berry</span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""></body></html>