The Broken Wing/The Pearl

​The Pearl

How long shall it suffice   Merely to hoard in thine unequalled rays The bright sequestered colours of the sun,O pearl above all price,  And beautiful beyond all need of praise, World-coveted but yet possessed of none, Content in thy proud self-dominion?
Shall not some ultimate  And unknown hour deliver thee, and attest Life’s urgent and inviolable claimTo bind and consecrate  Thy glory on some pure and bridal breast, Or set thee to enhance with flawless flame A new-born nation’s coronal of fame?
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Or wilt thou self-denied  Forego such sweet and sacramental ties As weld Love’s delicate bonds of ecstasy,And in a barren pride  Of cold, unfruitful freedom that belies The inmost secret of fine liberty Return unblest into the primal sea?
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