Authors: Simon Armitage
In her priceless pearls that precious girl
arrived at the river on the opposite reach.
No man was gladder from here to Greece
than I was, to watch her at the water's edge.
She was nearer to my heart than an aunt or niece
and my love for her fierce and limitless.
Then that special being spoke to me:
she inclined low with a ladylike curtsy,
removed the exquisite crown from her head
and with grace and courtesy greeted me.
What a blessing to be born just to speak with that girl,
dressed and adorned in priceless pearls.
‘O
h pearl, in those priceless pearls,’ I said,
‘are you really my pearl, whose passing I mourn,
and grieve for alone through lonely nights?
Endless sorrow I have suffered and endured
since you slipped from my grasp to the grassy earth;
I am hollow with loss and harrowed by pain,
yet here you stand, lightened of all strife,
at peace in the land of Paradise.
What fate has led my pearl forward
and positioned me here to feel such pain?
Entwined once, now torn from our twinship
I live without joy like a jeweller without jewel.’
 Then that jewelled one in her noble gems
 looked up and gazed with those grey-blue eyes,
 put on her crown of oriental pearls
 and spoke without sentiment, saying to me:
âSir, there's no truth in what you say.
 You lament that your pearl is lost for ever
 when the exquisite coffer encasing her
 is this wonderful garden and glorious estate,
 and here is her home for eternity
 where misery and melancholy never come near.
 What worth this casket would truly hold,
 if measured and judged by a master jeweller.
âBut gentle jeweller, if you are dejected
 at the loss of a gem which lent you such joy,
 then your mind pursues a mad purpose
 and troubles itself with a trifling cause.
 What rendered you bereft was only a rose
 that flowered and faded as nature intended.
 But now, through the nature of the chest where it lies,
 its worth as a precious pearl is proven.
 And you falsely infer your fate is a thief,
 when He conjures you something from nothing, quite clearly.
 Since you heap blame on the healing balm
 I judge you to be no natural jeweller.'
 That visitor was a jewel to me then, a vision
 whose noble words were no less gemmed.
âOh best and blessed one,' I said to her,
âyou dispel my grief and great distress,
 so I ask you please to pardon me
 for believing my pearl was oblivion's prize.
 Now that I've found it again I'll rejoice,
 and dwell with that beauty in the bright dells,
 and love my Lord and all His laws
 who has brought blissfulness back to me.
 To join you beyond this wide water
 would make this man a joyful jeweller.'
âJeweller,' that glittering gem then said,
âwhy must men joke? You must all be mad.
 Three utterances you issued all at once,
 each as null and empty as the next.
 What meaning they have must escape the man
 whose mouth moves ahead of his mind.
 Firstly, you feel you have found me in this valley
 having seen the evidence with your own eyes.
 Secondly, you state you will stay right here,
 and live your life alongside me in this land.
 Thirdly, you think you will bridge this brook â
 no gentle jeweller could make such a journey.
‘I
judge unworthy of praise the jeweller
who only believes what his eyes behold,
and call him discourteous and worthy of blame
for believing our Lord would speak a lie,
who faithfully promised to lift up your life
should Fortune cause your flesh to rot.
You set the words of our Saviour askew
by clinging to the saying that seeing is believing,
an expression of a person’s love of pride.
It is unbecoming in a courteous man
to try and to test but to trust no truth
beyond those facts which flatter his judgement.
âNow judge for yourself if you have spoken
 in the manner a man should address the Almighty.
 You say out loud you will live in this land â
 I think you must plead for permission first,
 and such a favour could well be refused.
 And you wish to pass over this watercourse,
 but first you must plot a different path:
 your cold corpse must sink through the soil;
 it was forfeited by our ancestor, Adam,
 who misguarded it in the Garden of Eden.
 Every man must experience cruel demise
 before God in his judgement will grant the crossing.'
âSweet one,' I pleaded, âthat judgement you pass
 is a life sentence of sorrow and loss.
 Now I have gained what I thought was gone
 must I lose it again before my life's end?
 Why must I find then forfeit my prize?
 My priceless pearl, you inflict such pain.
 What use is treasure if it leads to tears,
 when its absence causes the heart to ache?
 I'm indifferent now to how far I might fall
 or the distance and depth to which I'm driven.
 Deprived of my precious pearl I expect
 a dark journey till my judgement day.'
âYou judge your lot as dejection and hurt,'
 said the gracious girl. âWhy is that so?
 Through his lament for lesser losses
 man often misses the greater gain.
 Better to sign yourself with the cross
 and thank your God through thick and thin,
 because anger profits you not one penny.
 If man must suffer he should sidestep stubbornness,
 and instead of dancing like a cornered deer,
 wriggling and writhing and bleating his woes
 without exit or escape either this way or that,
 he should heed the judgement of God in heaven.
âCall Him unjust till the end of the Earth,
 but He will not swerve by a single step.
 No crumb of comfort will come your way
 if you wallow and wail in the well of pity,
 so quieten your quibbling, quit your carping
 and swiftly and honestly seek His sympathy.
 Hope that your prayers will pierce His heart,
 so that mercy might do what mercy does best.
 The comfort He offers can ease your anguish,
 scatter your fears, put sorrow to flight,
 so bury your feelings or flail in fury,
 the Almighty alone is judge and jury.'
W
ith judicious words I said to my jewel:
‘Let there be no offence to my Lord
if I rage and rave with spluttering speech.
But my heart is heavy and talk rushes headlong
like water from a spring, surging and spewing.
I fall on His mercy, this moment and for ever.
Never reproach me with wounding words
despite my errors, my gilded angel,
but kindly offer your consolations.
Be caring and thoughtful and recall this:
you who paired me with painful despair
were the bedrock on which my bliss was built.
âMy bliss and my grief â you have been both â
 but my grief has been the greater by far.
 Since you were exiled from earthly care
 I could not guess where my pearl had gone,
 but seeing it again my sorrow subsides.
 Once in harmony, we were torn in half;
 may God forbid we be broken again,
 we so seldom meet by tree or stone!
 Though your conversation with me is courteous
 I lack all manners and am little more than dust.
 Let the mercy of Christ and Mary and John
 be the base on which I build my bliss.
âYou stand before me in a blissful state,
 and myself a demoralised, mournful man.
 You appear to notice nothing of this,
 though I suffer greatly from searing sadness.
 But since you appear in my presence here
 I ask you to say, without argument,
 and to answer my question with hand on heart,
 what life you lead through dawn and dusk.
 My spirit soars, knowing your position
 is one of worth and high honour,
 for this is the ground and this the gate
 by which the road to my blissfulness runs.'
âMay bliss find and follow you, sir,'
 said that figure of lovely limb and face.
âYou are welcome to walk and wait in this place,
 for now your speech is pleasing to hear.
 Arrogant attitude and haughty pride,
 I have to tell you, are detested here.
 My Lord has no liking of life's complainers
 and only the humble find a home in His house.
 When you come to rest at last in His realm
 be deeply devout and meek in demeanour.
 My Lord the Lamb, who loves such a manner,
 is the rock on which my blissfulness rests.
âYou say I lead a blissful life
 and wonder at such an exalted existence.
 As you know full well, when your pearl fell
 I was young in years and innocent at heart.
 But my Lord the Lamb by divine love
 brought me to marriage and made me His bride,
 crowned me His queen to bloom in blessedness
 today and tomorrow, till eternity.
 His honour and heritage I have inherited;
 I am wholly His and His alone.
 His grace, His nobility and family line
 are the root and branch of all my bliss.'
‘M
y bliss,’ I said, ‘can your tale be true?
Don’t take offence if I speak out of turn
by questioning if you are heaven’s queen,
worshipped by everyone the world over.
We believe in Mary, mother of all grace,
who bore a child while pure and chaste.
No one could vie for the Virgin’s crown
unless they surpassed her in some noble aspect.
Rare and unrivalled, unique in her sweetness,
she has come to be called the Phoenix of Arabia,
a peerless creature that flew from her Creator,
as did the queen of courtesy.’
âCourteous Queen,' said that lovely creature,
 kneeling on the floor, raising her face,
âMatchless mother and fairest maiden,
 fount from which grace and goodness flows.'
 Then from her prayers she stood and paused
 and in that place she spoke these words:
âSir, many seek grace and are granted it here,
 but in this domain there are no usurpers.
 All heaven belongs to that holy empress,
 and earth and hell are within her dominion.
 No one will oust her from her high office
 for she is the queen of courtesy.
âThe company of the court of God's kingdom
 live by a custom unique to this country.
 Everyone who arrives and enters here
 is called the queen or king of the realm,
 and no one person shall deprive another,
 but derive pleasure from a neighbour's possessions
 and wish their crowns were five-fold in worth
 if such an improvement were possible.
 But my lady, mother of Jesus our Lord,
 she is highest of all throughout this empire,
 and none of our company is sorry that is so,
 for she is the queen of courtesy.
âAnd through such courtesy, as Saint Paul preaches,
 we are all joined with Jesus Christ;
 as head and arm and leg and navel
 are firmly fastened to each person's frame,
 so every single Christian soul
 belongs to the Master of spiritual mysteries.
 Could hate or similar sentiments exist
 between one being's body parts?
 Does your head experience anger or envy
 if your wrist or finger flaunts a ring?
 And like those limbs we live and love
 among heaven's courteous queens and kings.'