Envoi

Diving for Pearls is now closed. No further entries will be added to it, but the quotations gathered will stay here, and can be browsed by author or category.

A Song to David

Precious the bounteous widow’s mite;
And precious, for extreme delight,
The largesse from the churl:
Precious the ruby’s blushing blaze,
And alba’s blest imperial rays,
And pure cerulean pearl.

Precious the pentitential tear …

Christopher Smart, ‘A Song to David’ (1763), stanza (and line)