Pearl for the Brokenhearted

PEARL is a precious literary work of art and spiritual labor of love by an anonymous 14th-century author. Due to its length, it is presented here in seven parts for poetry lovers....

Modern Translation
by Bill Stanton

              I

Pearl, to delight a prince's day,
Flawlessly set in gold so fair
In all the East, I dare to say,
I have not found one to compare.
So round, so radiant in array,
So small, so smooth her contours were,
Wherever I judged jewels gay
I set her worth as truly rare.
I lost her in a garden where
Through grass she fell to earthen plot;
Wounded by love beyond repair
I mourn that pearl without a spot.

Since from that spot it fled that day
I waited oft, in hope to see
What once could drive my gloom away
And charge my very soul with glee;
But heavy on my heart it lay
And filled my breast with misery.
Yet no song ever seemed so gay
As that quiet hour let steal to me
Though in my heart one thought ran free,
Her fresh face wrapped in earthly clot;
Earth, you have marred her purity,
My secret pearl without a spot.   

That spot of spices needs must spread
Where such rich bounty doth decay,
With yellow flowers and blue and red
That shine so bright in sun's clear ray.
Flower and fruit can ne'er be dead
Where that pearl slipped into the clay,
For grass will grow from seed once shed
Or grain could not be stored away,
And good will always good repay.
This comely seed shall perish not,
And spices will their fruit display

From that dear pearl without a spot 

From that spot I in speech expound
I entered in that garden green,
As August's season came around
When corn is cut with sickles keen,
There that pearl rolled into the ground,
Shadowed with plants both bright and clean,
Wallflower, ginger, gromwell abound
Bright peonies scattered in between;
Though they were seemly to be seen
No less in their scent my sense caught;
And there that jewel long has been,
My precious pearl without a spot.
Before that spot I clasped my hand,
In chilling care my heart was caught;
A bitter grief my soul unmanned
Though reason wiser comfort sought.
I mourned my pearl from freedom banned
With arguments that fiercely fought;
Though Christ's grace bade me understand
My wretched will fresh sorrow brought.
On flowery sward I fell, distraught;
Such fragrance to my senses shot
In deepest sleep I dreamt, methought,

On that dear pearl without a spot.

              II 

That spot my spirit fled apace
And let my body dreaming lie.
My soul set forth in God's good grace
To range where marvels multiply.
In all this world I knew no place
Like this, where such cliffs clove the sky.
Towards the woods I turned my face,
Where splendid rocks I could descry.
None could believe aught could supply
Such gleaming glory to the sight;
No fabric that men weave could vie
With all that glorious splendour bright

In splendour shone those downland sides
Clear did those cliffs their nature show,
And, bright about them, woodland rides
With tree-trunks blue as indigo;
Like silver, each leave open slides
And gently flickers to and fro;
When broken cloud above them glides
With shimmering sheen I see them glow.
The gravel on the ground below
Was precious pearls of Orient light;
The sunlight's beams could scarcely show
Against that glorious splendour bright.

The splendour of those bright hills there
My spirit freed from my side fate;
Refreshing was the fragrance clear
Of fruits, as though of food I ate;
Birds flew in all the woodland near
Of myriad hue, both small and great,
Cytole and cithern none could hear
To match a sound so delicate;
The notes their wing-beats did create
Made sounds of such sweet delight
Such charm no man could fabricate,
As here in all their splendour bright.

The splendour bright of that display,
The wood where fortune smiled on me,
The glory thereof to portray
No man could render worthily.
I wandered joyful on my way;
No height could do me injury.
Against that glorious splendour bright

As through the woods my footsteps stray
Field, shrub, and spice, and each pear-tree,
Hedgerow and stream and banks I see
Like gold thread shines each wooded height;
I came to a streamlet running free;
Lord, glorious was that splendour bright!

The splendour of the water deep
Was lovely banks of beryl clear
And sweetly did that water sweep,
Flowing with murmuring sound anear.
Its depths each standing stone did steep,
And, as through glass, bright gleams appear
As streaming stars, when mortals sleep,
Sine in the heavens when winter's here;
Each pebble in that sparkling mere,
Emerald and sapphire, all unite;
Its glowing radiance without peer,
So dear to me that splendour bright.

              III

The splendour of those downs and dales,
Of woods and water, lovely plains
Increased my joy, soothed my travails,
Removed all stress, destroyed all pains.
Beside a stream that never fails
In bliss I travel; naught restrains
My onward journey through those vales;
The greater joy my heart contains.
As fortune at her whim constrains,
And solace sends, or trials sore,
So he who profits from these gains
Desires her favours more and more.

And still more joy came in a trice
Than I, though had I time, could say
For earthly heart would not suffice
One tenth my pleasure to convey;
Because it seemed that Paradise
Perchance beyond those mountains lay;
I thought the stream a mere device
To join the pools and gardens gay;
Beyond the stream, in some strange way,
Some city lay spread out before.
The stream was deep; fear bade me stay,
Yet longing filled me more and more

More and more and yet more still
I longed to see that other side;
If this bank could such joy instill
Still lovelier sights that shore supplied.
I stood and stared against my will;
At once to find a ford I tried,
But felt something threatened ill
The more I walked that brook beside.
'Gainst further progress reason cried
Though such delights might lie in store;
A newer thing I then espied

that moved my splendour more and more.

More marvels to my sense repair
I looked and saw yet more anon,
A crystal cliff resplendent there
With royal rays of splendour shone;
And at its foot a child so fair
More courtly maiden there was none.
A gleaming mantle she did wear;
I knew her well from times long gone,
Like gold that craftsmen work upon
So shone that maid upon that shore,
And long my eyes did linger on
That maid, and knew her more and more.

The more I scanned that lovely face,
That lovely form so long unseen,
Such gladness did my soul embrace
As in my life had never been.
My need to call her grew apace;
I wondered what this thing might mean;
To see her in so strange a place
Might deal my heart a blow too keen.
She raised her head; her face was clean
As polished ivory, I swore;
Shaken by things so unforeseen,

I longed to see her more and more.

                   IV

Against my will arose more fear;
I stood stock still and dared not call.
With mouth set fast, but eye still not clear
I stood as still as a hawk in hall.
I thought her purpose spiritual cheer
And yet I feared what might befall,
That she might stop ere I drew near
And might escape me after all;
That gracious girl, so smooth, so small,
So free of stain, so seeming slight,
Royally clad, rose up withal,
A precious maid in pearls bedight.

With pearls bedight most royally
There by God's grace might now be seen,
When she, as fresh as fleur-de-lys,
Came straightaway down to the bank between,
Her linen gleaming white I see,
Open at sides, bright with a sheen
Of lovelier pearls, it seemed to me
Than in my sight had ever been;
With hanging sleeves so wide and clean
And double rows of pearls so bright
Her kirtle matched that lovely scene,
With precious pearls richly bedight.

                 V

Bedight with pearls her crown arrayed;
With pearls and with no other stone,
High-pinnacled in pearls displayed
With figured flowers thereupon,
And on her head no covering laid.
Her face enclosèd round; as one
Like duke or earl her look was staid;
Her features white as whalebone shone;
Like burnished gold her tresses on
Her shoulders, all unbound, lay light;
Their hue defied comparison
With wimple's edge in pearls bedight.

Bedight with pearls at every hem
Of wrists, hands, sides and throat I saw;
With whitest pearl, no other gem,
And gleaming white the dress she wore;
Richer than any diadem
A pearl upon her breast she bore;
No man might praise it or condemn,
Its worth would surely overawe.
I judge no tongue e'er found before
Words to describe that glorious sight,
So clean it was, so clear, so pure.
That precious pearl there so bedight.

Bedight in pearls, that precious piece
From that far bank came to the shore.
No happier man from here to Greece
To see her stand the brink before.
She was more close than aunt or niece;
And therefore was my joy the more.
The fairest words she did release,
Bowed low as e'er she did of yore,
Removed her crown of richest store
And hailed me with a sweet delight,
Well for the man my mother bore