Pearl (7 page)
Authors: Simon Armitage
Had I put His pleasure before my own,
and yearned only for what was yielded,
and acted only with honest intent,
and done as my perfect pearl had pleaded,
then I might have lingered longer in His presence
and witnessed more of His mystery and wonder.
But a fellow will always seek further fortune;
I reached for more than was mine by right,
and that glimpse of life in the land everlasting
was shattered in a moment and the gates slammed shut.
Lord, they are mad who meddle with your laws
or propose to spoil a Prince's pleasure.
To please the Prince and join Him in peace
is the simple choice for His faithful flock,
for day and night He has never been less
than a God, a Lord, and a loving friend.
Here on this mound this happened to me:
at first I pined for my fallen pearl,
then gave her up to go to her God,
with my blessing, and also the blessing of Christ,
who the priests prove to us time after time,
His body as bread, His blood as wine.
May we live both as His lowly servants
and beautiful pearls, pleasing to Him. Amen. Amen.
Simon Armitage
was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield. A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, he has published eleven collections of poetry, including
Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989–2014
and his acclaimed translation of
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(2007). He also writes extensively for television and radio and is the author of two novels and the non-fiction bestsellers
All Points North
(1998)
Walking Home
(2012), and
Walking Away
(2015). His theatre works include
The Last Days of Troy,
performed at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2014. In 2010 he received the CBE for services to poetry and in 2015 was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
poetry
ZOOM!
XANADU
KID
BOOK OF MATCHES
THE DEAD SEA POEMS
MOON COUNTRY
(with Glyn Maxwell)
CLOUDCUCKOOLAND
KILLING TIME
TRAVELLING SONGS
THE UNIVERSAL HOME DOCTOR
TYRANNOSAURUS REX VERSUS THE CORDUROY KID
SEEING STARS
PAPER AEROPLANE: SELECTED POEMS 1989–2014
drama
ECLIPSE
MISTER HERACLES
(after Euripides)
JERUSALEM
HOMER’S ODYSSEY
THE LAST DAYS OF TROY
THE ODYSSEY: MISSING PRESUMED DEAD
prose
ALL POINTS NORTH
LITTLE GREEN MAN
THE WHITE STUFF
GIG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A ROCK-STAR FANTASIST
WALKING AWAY
WALKING HOME
translation
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR
First published in 2016
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2016
All rights reserved
© Simon Armitage, 2016
The right of Simon Armitage to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–30298–7
