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—

Of which this ring as token now I prize.