EYE of a god was this blazing stone, Beyond the snows of the Himalaya; These dazzling stars might have lit the zone Of the Queen of Jove or the Grace, Aglaia; And the rubies are such as the Burman king Sends his elephants white to bring, With a troop of soldiers and high grandees Greeting the finder, on bended knees. Here's an emerald rare as the rose of pride Cortez gave his Castilian bride, And lustrous-green as the Indian gem Charlemagne wore in his diadem; And pearls hard-won by the Ceylonese From the silent depths of the tropic seas, While the conjurer muttered his spells ashore Till the diver's toils for the day were o'er; And crystals, amber, and amethyst, That only the Oural caves could harden, -- Bright as blossoms the sun has kissed In the fairy plots of a palace garden. |