To my Friend
A. D. Frye, Esq.
"The Fairest Lily There" (1869)
Ballad
Suggested by Jerome Thompson's
Celebrated picture
THE CAPTIVE CHILD,
Words by Josephine Pollard
Music by Henry Tucker, 1826-1884

New York: WILLIAM A. POND & Co., 547 & 866 Broadway
Plate No. 7218
[Source: 100006455@HSM/LoC]

1.
Among the red men of the wood,
'Mid scenes of beauty wild,
Unconscious of her lonely lot,
There dwells the captive child.
Her swarthy comrades deck their limbs
With colors rich and rare,
While she in robes of innocence,
Gleams like a Lily there.

2.
The sky has never shone so bright;
The blossoms seem to hold
The wine of beauty, as their cups
To morning dews unfold.
The placid waters smile to greet
The precious freight they hear,
As thro the lily bed she floats,
The fairest Lily there.

3.
O let thy song of joy sweet bird,
Ring thro' the perfumed wild,
And wake an echo in the air
To charm the captive child.
O gentle skies! O lovely flow'rs!
Your richest treasures bear,
To her who roams in nature's bowers
The fairest Lily there.

CODA (ad lib) after last verse
The smile of Heaven seems to rest,
Upon her waving hair,
As thro' the Lilybed she floats,
The fairest Lily there.