THE GOD AND THE OPAL TO THÉOPHILE GAUTIER Gray caught he from the cloud, and green from earth, And from a human breast the fire he drew, And life and death were blended in one dew. A sunbeam golden with the morning's mirth, A wan, salt phantom from the sea, a girth Of silver from the moon, shot colour through The soul invisible, until it grew To fulness, and the Opal Song had birth. And then the god became the artisan. With rarest skill he made his gem to glow, Carving and shaping it to beauty such That down the cycles it shall gleam to man, And evermore man's wonderment shall know The perfect finish, the immortal touch. Agnes Lee.