Daily Archives: August 12, 2006

Paracelsus: Ah! the time-wiling loitering of a page Through bower and over lawn, till eve shall bring The stately lady’s presence whom he loves – The broken sleep of the fisher whose rough coat Enwraps the queenly pearl – these … Continue reading →

I do not tremble, when I write A Mistress’ praise, but with delight Can dive for pearls into the flood, Fly through every garden wood, Stealing the choice of flow’rs and wind, To dress her body or her mind. Anon., … Continue reading →

Ere half this region-whisper had come down, Hyperion arose, and on the stars Lifted his curved lids, and kept them wide Until it ceas’d; and still he kept them wide: And still they were the same bright, patient stars. Then … Continue reading →

Then came enchantment with the shifting wind, That did both drown and keep alive my ears. I threw my shell away upon the sand, And a wave fill’d it, as my sense was fill’d With that new blissful golden melody. … Continue reading →

No radiant pearl which crested Fortune wears, No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty’s ears, Not the bright stars which Night’s blue arch adorn, Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear that … Continue reading →

Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Thomas Gray, ‘Elegy in a Country Churchyard’ (1751), … Continue reading →

Pearls are the Diver’s Farthings Extorted from the sea – Emily Dickinson, ‘The Feet of People Walking Home’ (c.1858), extract