SECOND OPAL

If, from a careless hold,

One gem of these should fall,

No power of art or gold

Its wholeness could recall:

The lustrous wonder dies

In gleams of irised rain,

As light fades out from the eyes

When a soul is crushed by pain.

Take heed that from your hold

My love you do not cast:

Dim, shattered, vapor-cold —

That day would be its last.