Pearl is a long poem written probably in the 1300s by a great nameless poet from the west Midlands of England. Although it is a Christian allegory, most people believe it was also written about the death of the poet's daughter, perhaps named Margaret (which means Pearl), who died very young. These are a few verses from the poem, translated into more understandable English by J.R.R. Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings but also a scholar of old and middle English.
Pearl of delight that a prince doth please...
Her only alone I deemed as dear.
Alas! I lost her in garden near:
Through grass to the ground...
I pine now oppressed...
for that pearl, mine own, without a spot.
Since in that spot it sped from me,
I have looked and longed for that precious thing
... my heart doth hurt now cruelly,
my breast with burning torment sting...
to think that her radiance in clay should rot.
O mould! Thou marrest a lovely thing,
my pearl, mine own, without a spot.
...By that spot my hands I wrung dismayed;
for care full cold that had me caught
a hopeless grief on my heart was laid.
Though reason to reconcile me sought,
for my pearl there prisoned a plaint I made,
in fierce debate unmoved I fought;
be comforted Christ Himself me bade,
but in woe my will ever strove distraught...
[he wanders as in a dream and sees his daughter across a river]
...a child abode there at its base:
she wore a gown of glistening white...
erewhile I had known her well by sight...
She shone in beauty upon the shore;
long did my glance on her alight,
and the longer I looked I knew her more...
In pearls arrayed that maiden free
beyond the stream came down the strand.
From here to Greece none as glad could be
as I on shore to see her stand...
the more did joy my heart expand...
"O Pearl!" said I, "in pearls arrayed,
are you my pearl whose loss I mourn?
Lament alone by night I made,
much longing I have hid for thee forlorn,
since to the grass you from me strayed.
While I pensive waste by weeping worn...
what fate hath hither my jewel born
and made me mourning's prisoner?..."
[His daughter answers]
"...what you lost was but a rose
that by nature failed after flowering brief...
you grudge the healing of your grief....
"But of woe, I deem, and deep distress
you speak,"she said. "Why do you so?..."
[The father says:]
"Both bliss and grief you have been to me,
but of woe far greater hath been my share.
You were caught away from all perils free,
but my pearl was gone, I knew not where;
my sorrow is softened now I it see...
"In bliss you abide and happiness,
and I with woe am worn and grey;
oft searing sorrows I possess..."
[The girl answers]
"Your pearl you know you did resign
when in young and tender years was she;
yet my Lord, the Lamb, through power divine...
crowned me queen in bliss to shine
while days shall endure eternally..."
[He sees her in a vision among many other young girls, in the heavenly city.]
Then saw I there my little queen
that I thought stood by me in the glade!
Lord! great was the merriment she made,
among her peers who was so white.
That vision made me think to wade
for love-longing in great delight....
This chance I met on mound where prone
in grief for my pearl I would repine...
I then to God it did resign....