THE PEARL


A MIDDLE ENGLISH POEM


A MODERN VERSION IN THE METRE OF THE ORIGINAL

BY

SOPHIE JEWETT

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN WELLESLEY COLLEGE



1908



To KATHARINE LEE BATES

THE TRANSLATOR TO THE AUTHOR

Poet of beauty, pardon me
If touch of mine have tarnishèd
Thy Pearl's pure luster, loved by thee;
Or dimmed thy vision of the dead
Alive in light and gaiety.
Thy life is like a shadow fled;