Star-Stitch Pattern

--continuation of Pearl

                 verse translation XVII

As John the apostle saw it of old
I saw the city beyond the stream,
Jerusalem the new and fair to behold,
Sent down from heaven by powere supreme.
The streets were paved with precious gold,
As flawless pure as glass agleam,
Based on bright gems of worth untold,
Foundation-stones twelvefold in team;
And set in series without a seam,
Each level was a single stone,
As he beheld it in sacred dream
In Apocalypse, the apostle John.

As John had named them in writ divine
Each stone in order by name I knew;
Jasper was the first in line;
At the lowest level it came in view;
Green ingrained I saw it shine.
The second was the sapphire blue;

The Clear chalcedony, rare and fine,
Was third in degree in order due,
The fourth the emerald green of hue;
Sardonyx fifth was set thereon;
The sixth the ruby he saw ensue
In Apocalypse, the apostle John.

To these John joined the chrysolite,
The seventh in that foundation's face;
The eighth the beryl clear and white,
The twin-hued topaz ninth to trace;
The chrysoprase tenth in order right;
Jacinth held the eleventh place;
The twelfth, the amethyst most of might,
The jasper walls above that base
Like lustrous glass to gaze upon;
I knew them all by his every phrase
In Apocalypse, the apostle John.

As John had written, so I was ware
How broad and steep was each great tier
As long as broad as high foursquare
The city towered on twelvefold pier.
The streets like glass in brilliance bare,
The walls like sheen on parchment sheer;
The dwellings all with gemstones rate
Arrayed in radiance far and near.
The sides of that perimeter
Twelve thousand furlongs spanned, 
each one;
Length, breadth, and height were measured there
Before his eyes, the apostle John.