THE LILIESThis morning it was, on the pavement, When that smell hit me again And set the houses reeling. People passed like rain: (The way rain moves and advances over the hills) And it was hot, hot and dank, The smell like animals, strong, but sweet too. What was it? Something I had forgotten. I tried to remember, standing there, Sniffing the air on the pavement. Somehow I thought of flowers. Flowers! That bad smell! I looked: down lanes, past houses-- There, behind a hoarding, A rubbish-heap, soft and wet and rotten. Then I remembered: After the rain, on the farm, The vlei that was dry and paler than a stone Suddenly turned wet and green and warm. The green was a clash of music. Dry Africa became a swamp And swamp-birds with long beaks Went humming and flashing over the reeds And cicadas shrilling like a train. I took off my clothes and waded into the water. Under my feet first grass, then mud, Then all squelch and water to my waist. A faint iridescence of decay, The heat swimming over the creeks Where the lilies grew that I wanted: Great lilies, white, with pink streaks That stood to their necks in the water. Armfuls I gathered, working there all day. With the green scum closing round my waist, The little frogs about my legs, And jelly-trails of frog-spawn round the stems. Once I saw a snake, drowsing on a stone, Letting his coils trail into the water. I expect he was glad of rain too After nine moinths of being dry as bark. I don't know why I picked those lilies, Piling them on the grass in heaps, For after an hour they blackened, stank. When I left at dark, Red and sore and stupid from the heat, Happy as if I'd built a town, All over the grass were rank Soft, decaying heaps of lilies And the flies over them like black flies on meat.. Doris Lessing
About This Quote

The lilies, this morning it was on the pavement when that smell hit me again and set the houses reeling. People passed like rain, the way rain moves and advances over the hills. The smell like animals, strong, but sweet too. What was it? Something I had forgotten.

I tried to remember standing there sniffing the air on the pavement. Somehow I thought of flowers. Flowers! That bad smell! I looked: down lanes past houses there, behind a hoarding a rubbish-heap soft and wet and rotten.

Then I remembered after the rain on the farm the vlei that was dry and paler than a stone suddenly turned wet and green and warm. The green was a clash of music dry Africa became a swamp and swamp-birds with long beaks went humming and flashing over the reeds cicadas shrilling like a train. I took off my clothes and waded into the water under my feet first grass then mud then all squelch water to my waist a faint iridescence of decay the heat swimming over the creeks where the lilies grew that I wanted great lilies white with pink streaks that stood to their necks in the water armfuls I gathered working there all day with green scum closing round my waist little frogs about my legs jelly-trails of frog-spawn round the stems once I saw a snake drowsing on a stone letting his coils trail into the water

Source: Going Home

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The sunlight claps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea: what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me? - Percy Bysshe Shelley
  2. In youth, it was a way I had, To do my best to please. And change, with every passing lad To suit his theories. But now I know the things I know And do the things I do, And if you do not like me... - Dorothy Parker
  3. If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human. - Maggie Stiefvater
  4. A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. - Ingrid Bergman
  5. This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of... - Susan Polis Schutz
More Quotes By Doris Lessing
  1. Trust no friend without faults, and love a woman, but no angel.
  2. There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.
  3. Listen Anna, if we don’t believe the things we put on our agendas will come true for us, then there’s no hope for us. We’re going to be saved by what we seriously put on our agendas.
  4. Novels give you the matrix of emotions, give you the flavour of a time in a way formal history cannot.
  5. I don't know much about creative writing programs. But they're not telling the truth if they don't teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer.
Related Topics