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Pearls in Poems
Pearls in poems has been an endearing theme for centuries.
Lament of Shabl Abdullah on the death of Nozami:
"Nozami's gone, our fairest pearl is lost.
From purest dew, kind Heaven had given her birth,
And then had fashioned her the pearl supreme.
She softly shone, but hidden from mankind,
So God has now restored her to her shell."
Folk Song of Servia (translated from Klenn, "Culturgeschichte," Leipzig, 1852, volumn X, p 318)
A youth unmated prays to God,
To turn him to pearls in the sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
That so they might gather him into their laps,
And sting him on a fine green thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
That he might bear what each one said,
And whether his loved one spoke of him.
His prayer was granted and he lay
Turned to pearls in the dark blue sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
Then quickly they gather him into their laps,
And string him on a green silk thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
So he hears what each one says of her own
And what his loved one says of him."
"A Pearl, a Girl" by Browning
(published the day of his death in 1889)
"A simple ring with a single stone,
To the bulgar eye no stone of price;
Whisper the right wrod,that alone--
Forth starts a sprite, like fire from ice,
And lo, you are lord (says an Eastern scroll)
Of heaven and earth, lord whole and sole,
Through the power in a pearl."
"A woman ('tis I this time that say)
With little the world counts worthy of praise;
Utter the true word--out and away
Excapes her soul; I am wrapt in blaze,
Creation's lord, of heaven and earth,
Lord whole and sole--by a minute's birth--
Through the love in a girl."
by Robert Browning
There are two moments in a diver's life:
One, when a beggar, he prepares to plunge;
Then, when a prince, he rises with his prize.
More pearls in poems:
"Pearl", an English Poem of the Fourteenth Century, London
(This manuscript is now in the British Museum.)
Perle plesaunte to prynces paye,
To clanly clos in gold so clere,
Oute of oryent I hardyly saye,
Ne proved I never her precios pere,--
So rounde, so reken in uche a raye,
So smal, so smothe her sydez were,--
Queresoever I jugged gemmez gaye,
I sette hyr sengeley in synglere.
Another verse of pearls in poems from Fourteenth Century Mss. of "Pearl"
"This maskellez perle that boght is dere,
The joueler gef fore alle hys gold,
Is lyke the reme of hevenes clere";
So sayde the fader of folde and flode,
"For hit is wermlez, clene and clere,
And endelez rounde and blythe of mode,
And commune to all that ryghtwys were."
Go to main pearl story page after pearls in poems.
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