“As John did name these stones is Scripture,
I knew each one in neat rotation.
The gem of jasper, the first to treasure,
I saw formed there on firm foundation;
It glistened greenly in lowest measure.
Sapphire was set in second station.
Chalcedony then, a spotless pleasure,
Glowed pale and pure, third in formation.
The emerald, the fourth, a green creation,
The sardonyx, the fifth, a stone put on,
The sixth, the ruby, he saw with elation
In the Apocalypse, the apostle John.

John then saw the chrysolite,
The seventh gem in ornament,
The eighth, the beryl, clear and white,
The twin-hued topaz, ninth in ascent,
The tenth, the chrysoprase, set there tight,
The jacinth, eleventh, heaven-sent,
The twelfth, the gentlest in that site,
The amethyst purple, with indigo blent.
The rising wall’s embellishment
Was jasper pure; like glass it shone.
I knew it by his development
In the Apocalypse, the apostle John.

As John described, yet saw I there
These twelve, great steps were broad and steep.
The city above, completely square,
Was long and high, and of wide sweep,
With streets of gold, like glass so rare,
And jasper wall, like glair we keep.
The abodes within, adorned with flair,
Had every jewel one finds in a heap.”

—Pearl, a 14th-century medieval poem, author unknown; translated from the Middle English by William Vantuono, 1995.