The God and the Opal
Preface
Affinity -- A Pantheistic Madrigal
The Poem of Woman - Marble of Paros
A Study of Hands
I Imperia
II Lacenaire
Variations on the Carnival of Venice:
I On the Street
II On the Lagoons
III Carnival
IV Moonlight
Symphony in White Major
Coquetry in Death
Heart's Diamond
Spring's First Smile
Contralto
Eyes of Blue
The Toreador's Serenade
Nostalgia of the Obelisks:
I The Obelisk in Paris
II The Obelisk in Luxor
Veterans of the Old Guard, December 15
Sea-Gloom
To a Rose-Coloured Gown
The World's Malicious
Ines de las Sierras -- To Petra Camara
Odelet, After Anacreon
Smoke
Apollonia
The Blind Man
Song
Winter Fantasies
The Brook
Tombs and Funeral Pyres
Bjorn's Banquet
The Watch
The Mermaids
Two Love-Locks
The Tea-Rose
Carmen
What the Swallows Say -- An Autumn Song
Christmas
The Dead Child's Playthings
After Writing My Dramatic Review
The Castle of Rembrance
Camellia and Meadow Daisy
The Fellah -- A Water-Colour by Princess Mathilde
The Garret
The Cloud
The Blackbird
The Flower that Makes the Springtime
A Last Wish
The Dove
A Pleasant Evening
Art
THE GOD AND THE OPAL
TO THEOPHILE 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.