I will take your thoughts to my heart; I will keep and garner them there Locked in a casket apart. Far above rubies or rare Pearls from the prodigal deep, Which men stake their lives on to find, And women their beauty to keep, I will treasure the pearls of your mind. How long has it taken the earth To crystallize gems in a mine? How long was the sea giving birth To her pearls, washed in bitterest brine? What sorrows, what struggles, what fierce Endeavour of lives in the past, Hearts tempered by fire and tears, To fashion your manhood at last! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHARLESTON by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: SETH COMPTON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TO A CONTEMPORARY BUNKSHOOTER by CARL SANDBURG THE WATER-LILY by JOHN BANISTER TABB I SIT AND LOOK OUT by WALT WHITMAN ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 9. TO CURIO by MARK AKENSIDE THE THEATRE-CURTAIN by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY; BEING THE LAST ADVENTURE OF BALAUSTION: PART 3 by ROBERT BROWNING |