Some Verses: Sonnets: DOES THE PEARL KNOW?

Does the pearl know, that in its shade and sheen / The dreamy rose, and tender wavering green, / Are hid the hearts of all the ranging seas -- / That Beauty weeps for gifts as fair as these? / Does it desire aught else when its rare blush / Reflects Aurora in the morning's hush, / Encircling all perfection can bestow -- / Does the pearl know?

Does the bird know, when thro' the waking dawn / He soaring sees below the silvered lawn, / And weary men who wait to watch the day / Steal o'er the heights where he may wheel and stray? / Can he conceive his fee divine to share, / As a free joyous peer with sun and air, / And pity the sad things that creep below -- / Does the bird know?

Does the heart know, when filled to utter brim, / The least quick throb, a sacrificial hymn / To a great god who scorns the frown of Jove / That here it finds the awful power of love? / Think you the new-born babe in first wise sleep / Fathoms the gift the heavens have bade him keep / Yet if this be -- if all these things are so -- / Does the heart know?