XVII "This flawless sight

 "This flawless sight I will not hide;

Up toward the brook's head thou must go,

While I will follow on this side,

Till yonder hill the city show."

And then I would no longer bide¹,

But stole through branches, bending low,

Till from the summit I espied²,

Through green boughs³ swaying to and fro,

Afar, the city, all aglow⁴,

That brighter than bright sunbeams shone.

In writing it is pictured so,

In the Revelation of St. John.

As John the Apostle saw the sight,

I saw that city, standing⁵ near

Jerusalem, so royal dight,

As if from Heaven alighted here.

The city all of gold burned bright,

Like gleaming glass that glistens⁶ clear.

With precious stones beneath set right:

Foundations twelve of gems⁷ most dear,

Wrought⁹ wondrous¹⁰ richly, tier on tier.

Each base was of a separate stone

As, perfectly¹¹, it doth appear

In the Revelation of St. John.

John named the stones that he had seen,

I knew the order that he made;

The first a jasper must have been,

That on the lowest base was laid,

Beneath the rest it glinted green;

A sapphire¹² in the second grade;

Chalcedony, from blemish¹³ clean,

In the third course was fair arrayed;

Fourth, emerald, of greenest shade,

Fifth, sardonyx, was raised thereon;

The sixth a ruby¹⁴, as is said

In the Revelation of St. John.

John joined to these the chrysolite,

The seventh gem⁸ in that basement;

The eighth, a beryl, clear and white;

The topaz, ninth, its luster¹⁵ lent;

Tenth, chrysophrase, both soft and bright;

Eleventh, the jacinth, translucent¹⁶;

And twelfth, and noblest to recite,

Amethyst¹⁷, blue with purple blent.

The wall above those basements went

Jasper, like glass that glistening¹⁸ shone;

I saw, as the story doth present,—

The Revelation of St. John.

I saw, as John doth clear devise:

The great stones rose like a broad stair;

Above, the city, to my eyes,

In height, length, breadth appeared four-square;

The jasper wall shone amber-wise,

The golden streets as glass gleamed fair;

The dwellings¹⁹ glowed in glorious guise²⁰

With every stone most rich and rare.

Each length of bright wall builded there

For full twelve furlongs' space stretched on,

And height, length, breadth all equal were:

"I saw one mete²¹ it," writeth John.

1 bide   

v.忍耐；等候；住

参考例句：

• We'll have to bide our time until the rain stops.我们必须等到雨停。
• Bide here for a while. 请在这儿等一会儿。

2 espied   

v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• One day a youth espied her as he was hunting.She saw him and recognized him as her own son, mow grown a young man. 一日，她被一个正在行猎的小伙子看见了，她认出来这个猎手原来是自己的儿子，现在已长成为一个翩翩的少年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In a little while he espied the two giants. 一会儿就看见了那两个巨人。 来自辞典例句

3 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

4 aglow   

adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地

参考例句：

• The garden is aglow with many flowers.园中百花盛开。
• The sky was aglow with the setting sun.天空因夕阳映照而发红光。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 glistens   

v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The lake glistens in the moonlight. 湖水在月光下闪烁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• VC:You forever are that star which in my heart most glistens. 翻译：你永远是我心中最闪亮的那一颗星。 来自互联网

7 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

8 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

9 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

10 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 sapphire   

n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的

参考例句：

• Now let us consider crystals such as diamond or sapphire.现在让我们考虑象钻石和蓝宝石这样的晶体。
• He left a sapphire ring to her.他留给她一枚蓝宝石戒指。

13 blemish   

v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点

参考例句：

• The slightest blemish can reduce market value.只要有一点最小的损害都会降低市场价值。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

14 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

15 luster   

n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉

参考例句：

• His great books have added luster to the university where he teaches.他的巨著给他任教的大学增了光。
• Mercerization enhances dyeability and luster of cotton materials.丝光处理扩大棉纤维的染色能力，增加纤维的光泽。

16 translucent   

adj.半透明的；透明的

参考例句：

• The building is roofed entirely with translucent corrugated plastic.这座建筑完全用半透明瓦楞塑料封顶。
• A small difference between them will render the composite translucent.微小的差别,也会使复合材料变成半透明。

17 amethyst   

n.紫水晶

参考例句：

• She pinned a large amethyst brooch to her lapel.她在翻领上别了一枚大大的紫水晶饰针。
• The exquisite flowers come alive in shades of amethyst.那些漂亮的花儿在紫水晶的映衬下显得格外夺目。

18 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

19 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

21 mete   

v.分配；给予

参考例句：

• Schools should not mete out physical punishment to children.学校不应该体罚学生。
• Duly mete out rewards and punishments.有赏有罚。