Classic Poem

I wish I had a casket, love, of jewels rich and rare,
I'd twine a wreath of diamonds 'mid the clusters of thy hair;
And where thy soft and swanlike neck is kissed by floating curls,
I'd tie, to foil its purity, a string of orient pearls.

The sapphire and the emerald, where rainbow beauty lingers,
I'd set in hoops of beamy gold to deck thy fairy fingers;
And, on thy smoothly chiseled arm, just o'er the snowy wrist,
Should glitter, from its woven band, the rosy amethyst.

But I'd choose of all my jewels, love, the richest and the best,
To gleam in solitary pride, upon thy virgin breast;
And then around thy slender waist, I'd clasp the sparkling sheen
Of gems, which might have glittered on the cestus of Love's queen.

Yet, Mary, would thy clear blue eye, amid this wealth of light,
Appear less mildly beautiful, or shine less purely bright?
Oh no! the ocean cavern and the undiscovered mine
Contain no gem whose starry glance is lovelier than thine.