True or False - John Ciardi

[Larry Robinson]

True or False

Real emeralds are worth more than synthetics
but the only way to tell one from the other 
is to heat them to a stated temperature,
then tap. When it’s done properly
the real one shatters.

I have no emeralds.
I was told this about them by a woman
who said someone had told her. True or false,
I have held my own palmful of bright breakage
from a truth too late. I know the principle.

	- John Ciardi