At thee the ruby lights its deepening flow, / And with a saving radiance inward flames. / From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes / Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct, / The purple- streaming amethyst is thine. / With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns; / Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, / When first she gives it to the southern gale, / Than the green emerald shows. But, all combined, / Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams; / Or, flying from its surface, form / A trembling variance of revolving hues / As the site varies in the gazer’s hand.
—James Thomson, "Summer," quoted by Marjorie Hope Nicolson in Newton Demands the Muse, 1946.
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