The Pearl | Page 9

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 builded there?For full twelve furlongs' space stretched on,?And height, length, breadth all equal were:?"I saw one mete it," writeth John.
XVIII
As John doth write more met mine eye:?Within each wall were set three gates;?Twelve in succession I could spy,?Portals adorned with bright gold plates;?Each gate a single pearl saw I,?A perfect pearl, as John relates.?On each a name was written high?Of Israel's sons after their dates,?The oldest first, as the story states.?Within those streets by night or noon,?Light beams that not one hour abates;?They needed neither sun nor moon.
Of sun or moon they had no need;?For God Himself was their lamp light,?The Lamb their lantern was indeed;?From Him the city shone all bright.?Through wall and