Macao.




My Sapphire Ring.


Where have I seen the sapphire rimmed with gold?
When on the dark blue Carribbean sea,
Floating at sunset, dreaming lazily,
I saw the God of Day the world enfold;
There did my eyes the sapphire rare behold.

I saw the sapphire, when the day was young
In royal Venice, as I lay and gazed
Into the morning sky, and saw, amazed,
Its deep hued brilliance, ere a bird had sung,
Or Matin bells from San Stefano rung.

Once when my course, with myriad sea-flowers strewn,
Was o'er Formosa's waves of purple dulse,
Rising and falling like a fevered pulse,
Moved by the hot and southern born monsoon,
I saw the sapphire glow in tropic noon.

But in our home, beneath our own blue skies,
Before I knew these treasures of the Earth,
I saw the sapphire of far greater worth--
The first born friendship in your boyhood's eyes--