Hard by an orient sea.
Where date and clove and sandalwood
Whisper the heart to sunrise mood,
I found a pearl
Cradled in nacreous mystery,
Hidden beneath the waters' silver swirl.
Soft hours with gladness fraught
I culled amid its gentle rays—
Roses and light and throstle lays;
Then cast it by
And, roaming far, new treasures sought—
The shining shells that lure yet empty lie.
Swift rose the whirlwind's moan,
Rain rode the waves and clouds rolled black;
Weary and worn, I wandered back
To search with prayer
And toil the sands my pearl had known—
The sodden sands that stretched so bleak, so bare!
Long were the hours and gray
Wherein I sought, with heart contrite
And drear; yet ere the fall of night
I found—I found—
My pearl! and oh, a near it lay
A larger jewel, lustrous, clear, and round—
A richer, rarer prize,
A white gleam from the morning's brow,
A pearl of quickened light! And now
I hold in fee—
No longer blind of heart or eyes—
Both milk-white pearls, hard by the orient sea.
