About the Emperor's thumb revolving, Mouthed by Manchu's enameleld dragon; Upon the damasked barge, dissolving Within the deep Egyptian flagon; Downcast before the swine by Circe; Poised between double diamond prisms; Clipped by the horse-shoe nail that hearsay Declares a cure for rheumatisms; If the artificer be a Vulcan Or microscopical Cellini To set an eyeball for a falcon Or carve a button for a genie, -- And whether cupped in gold or copper, In frigid silver or the burly Embrace of bronze; stained by the upper Cloud colors, or profound sea-pearly, -- Whether consuming or congealing In fire or salt, O never shall you Find an enchantment for concealing This little moon's enormous value! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MIDDLETON PLACE by AMY LOWELL TO A MOSQUITO by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO A LOUSE, ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY'S BONNET AT CHURCH by ROBERT BURNS LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN by JOHN KEATS THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 24 by OMAR KHAYYAM GOD'S DETERMINATIONS: THE JOY OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP RIGHTLY ATTENDED by EDWARD TAYLOR |