Was o'er Formosa's waves of purple dulse,
Rising and falling like a fevered pulse,
Moved by the hot and southern born monsoon,
I saw the sapphire glow in tropic noon.
But in our home, beneath our own blue skies,
Before I knew these treasures of the Earth,
I saw the sapphire of far greater worth—
The first born friendship in your boyhood's eyes—
Of which this ring as token now I prize.