 | Miscellany Poems |  |
On a Pearl.
I
The daring Negro dives for Me,And I'm the noble Price of Blood:
Blind with my Rays he doth no danger see.
The common Stones in Quiet sleep;
Nor are torn from their Mother's Arms, the Deep.
So curs'd 'tis to be eminently Good;
No Rocks, nor shelters Me can shrowd.
II
Some say, I am condensed Dew,And from high Heaven my Extract claim:
That Drops, whom Night upon the Sea doth strow,
76
Till they are big with Heavenly Embrio's grown:
From Pearly Drops of Dew at first I came,
And hardned I am but the same.
III
My Worth I from Opinion get,And roving thoughts o'th' empty Mind:
In Me the Price of Provinces to eat,
The lavish Cleopatra taught,
And drink dissolved Kingdoms at a Draught.
Such Sparkling Juice not Gods themselves can find;
But must to Nectar be confin'd.
IV
Condens'd in Regions of the Main,The Wise think Me a Sunbeam set;
Where I my Orient hew unchang'd retain:
When Sol doth gild fair Thetis face,
And the Sea represents a Burning-glass;
Where the contracted Rays in one do meet,
Hardned by Cold they Me beget.
V
Yet thô I'm of Æthereal kind,My Habitation is but mean;
To rugged Rocks and Oyster-shells confin'd:
So Heaven doth many a Gallant Mind,
To a deformed crazy Body bind.
Both promise little, while the Shell is seen,
But yet the Pearl is found within.
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