To Be the Light of Rubies, Sapphires

The Judgment of Paris.
Italy. Second half of the 16th century.
Cameo. Chalcedony—onyx, gold. 3.0 × 3.6 cm.
Inv. No. К 2438.
Saint-Petersburg,
The State Hermitage Muse

Sleeping Khalkedon

Dreams of Corundum

James Hart

If I were a globe of sleeping ice,

I’d choose to wear the snow,

become chalcedony under silica pose,

and by the night’s white devices

I’d don the moon’s surplice

and make my melancholy glow.

I’d linger in this crystal place

until just before the dawn

I’d be some pale deceptive stone

berthed in rose and amethyst hues,

maybe a carnelian with a purple surplus,

a moonstone face undone by ruby tones.

By such mysticism’s throes,

I’d be both alchemist and prize,

something ivory with facets for my eyes,

perhaps a mounting at the crux of cross

like an effigy of bones evolving Tudor rose,

quelling time’s economy, both igneous and ice.

(Poem from unpublished manuscript

entitled Somewhere West of Never)

Corundum / Sapphires