The Pearl | Page 9

crafts that ever he
knew,
That of that song might sing a line;
Save these that hold the
Lamb in view;
From earth brought to that land divine,
As first fruits
that to God are due,
They serve the Lamb and bear His sign,
As like
Himself in face and hue;
For never lying nor tale untrue
Defiled
their lips in life's distress;'
Whatever might move them, they but drew

Nearer the Master, none the less."
"Nevertheless, speak out I must,
My Pearl, though queries rude I pose.

To try thy fair wit were unjust
Whom Christ to His own chamber
chose.
Behold, I am but dung and dust,
And thou a rare and radiant
rose,
Abiding here in life, and lust
Of loveliness that ever grows.

A hind that no least cunning knows,
I needs must my one doubt

express;
Though boisterous as the wind that blows,
Let my prayer
move thee none the less."
XVI
Yet, none the less, on thee I call,
If thou wilt listen verily,
As thou
art glorious over all,
Hearken the while I question thee.
Within
some splendid castle wall,
Have ye not dwellings fair to see?
Of
David's city, rich, royal,
Jerusalem, thou tellest me.
In Palestine its
place must be;
In wildwood such none ever saw.
Since spotless is
your purity,
Your dwellings should be free from flaw.
"Now this most fair and flawless rout,
Thronging thousands, as thou
dost tell,
They must possess, beyond a doubt,
A sightly city wherein
to dwell.
'T were strange that they should live without;
For so bright
a band it were not well;
Yet I see no building hereabout.
Dost thou
linger as in a woodland cell,
Alone and hidden, for the spell
Of
rushing stream and shining shaw?
If thou hast a dwelling beyond this
dell,
Now show me that city free from flaw."
"Not flawless the city in Juda's land,"
That gentle one gently to me
spake,
"But the Lamb did bless it when He planned
To suffer there
sorely for man's sake.
That is the old city we understand,
And there
the bonds of old guilt did break;
But the new, alighted from God's
hand,
The Apostle John for his theme did take.
The Lamb Who is
white with never a flake
Of black, did thither His fair folk draw;

For His flock no fenced fold need He make,
Nor moat for His city
free from flaw."
"To figure flawlessly what may mean
Jerusalems twain: the first of
those
Was 'the Sight of Peace' as it is seen

In the word of God, for
the gospel shows
How there our peace made sure hath been,
Since
to suffer therein the Saviour chose;
In the other is always peace to
glean,
Peace that never an ending knows.
To that city bright the

spirit goes
When the flesh hath fallen beneath death's law;
There
glorious gladness forever grows
For His fair folk that are free from
flaw."
"Flawless maid so mild and meek,"
Then said I to that lovely flower:

"Let me that stately city seek,
And let me see thy blissful bower."

That bright one said, "Thou art too weak,
Thou may'st not enter to
its tower;
Yet of the Lamb I did bespeak
This goodly gift, that He
would dower
Thine eyes with the sight for one short hour,--
From
without,--within none ever saw;
To step in that street thou hast no
power,
Unless thy soul were free from flaw."
XVII
"This flawless sight I will not hide;
Up toward the brook's head thou
must go,
While I will follow on this side,
Till yonder hill the city
show."
And then I would no longer bide,
But stole through
branches, bending low,
Till from the summit I espied,
Through
green boughs swaying to and fro,
Afar, the city, all aglow,
That
brighter than bright sunbeams shone.
In writing it is pictured so,
In
the Revelation of St. John.
As John the Apostle saw the sight,
I saw that city, standing near

Jerusalem, so royal dight,
As if from Heaven alighted here.
The city
all of gold burned bright,
Like gleaming glass that glistens clear.

With precious stones beneath set right:
Foundations twelve of gems
most dear,
Wrought wondrous richly, tier on tier.
Each base was of
a separate stone
As, perfectly, it doth appear
In the Revelation of St.
John.
John named the stones that he had seen,
I knew the order that he
made;
The first a jasper must have been,

That on the lowest base
was laid,
Beneath the rest it glinted green;
A sapphire in the second
grade;
Chalcedony, from blemish clean,
In the third course was fair

arrayed;
Fourth, emerald, of greenest shade,
Fifth, sardonyx, was
raised thereon;
The sixth a ruby, as is said
In the Revelation of St.
John.
John joined to these the chrysolite,
The seventh gem in that basement;

The eighth, a beryl, clear and white;
The topaz, ninth, its luster lent;

Tenth, chrysophrase, both soft and bright;
Eleventh, the jacinth,
translucent;
And twelfth, and noblest to recite,
Amethyst, blue with
purple blent.
The wall above those basements went
Jasper, like
glass that glistening shone;
I saw, as the story doth present,--
The
Revelation of St. John.
I saw, as John doth clear devise:
The great stones rose like a broad
stair;
Above, the city, to my eyes,
In height, length, breadth
appeared four-square;
The jasper wall shone amber-wise,
The
golden streets as glass gleamed fair;
The dwellings glowed in
glorious guise
With every stone most rich and rare.
Each length of
bright wall