Pearl: Section I (Modern version)

I

1

Pearl, the precious prize of a king,

Chastely set in cherished gold,

In all the East none equalling,   

No peer to her could I behold.

So round, so rare, a radiant thing,

So smooth she was, so small of mold,

Wherever I judged gems glimmering   

I set her apart, her price untold.

Alas, I lost her in earth’s green fold;

Through grass to the ground, I searched in vain.

I languish alone; my heart grows cold

For my precious pearl without a stain.

2

Since in that spot it slipped from me,

I lingered, longing for that delight   

That from my sins once set me free

And my happiness raised to the highest height.

Her going wounds me grievously;

It burns my breast both day and night.

Yet I never imagined a melody

So sweet as she, so brief, and slight.

But memory flowed through my mind’s sight:

I thought how her color in clods had lain

O dust that dims what once was bright,

My precious pearl without a stain.

3

Rare spices on that spot must spread:

Such riches there to rot have run,

Blooms of yellow and blue and red,

Their sheen a shimmer against the sun,

Flower and fruit nor faded nor dead,

Where the pearl dropped down in mouldering dun;

Each grass from a lifeless grain is bred,

Else to harvest no wheat were won:

Always from good is good begun.

So seemly a seed could not die in vain,

That sprig nor spice there would be none   

Of that precious pearl without a stain.

4

To the spot which I in speech portray,

I entered in that arbor green,

In August on a holy day,

When the corn is cut with sickles keen.

On the little rise where my pearl rolled away,

The fairest flowers formed a screen:

Gillyflower, ginger, gromwell spray,

With peonies powdered in between.

If they were seemly to be seen,

Far sweeter the scents from that domain,

More worthy her dwelling, well I ween,

My precious pearl without a stain.

5

I mourned, hands clenched, before that mound,

For the piercing cold of grief had caught

Me in the doleful dread and bound

My heart, though reason solace sought.

I longed for my pearl, locked in the ground,

While fierce contentions in me fought.

In Christ, though comfort could be found,

My wretched will was still distraught.

I fell upon that flowery plot.

Such odors eddied in my brain,

To sudden slumber I was brought

By that precious pearl without a stain.