CREATION, DAY 5 : THE PEARL

When the grit gets into your being:
Not swishing through, then gone,
Not just pausing, with the tide fleeing,
Dropped in your shell, then swirling on,

Piercing your membrane, penetrating your self;
Every movement, a rip of pain;
Open or closed, on your rocky shelf,
The hurt inside you will never leave again.

No use to ignore it! The searing flash
Magnifies every motion, every urge.
Actions you hadn’t noticed wake the lash
Of wounded flesh, rawness that longs to merge.

-- The suffering oyster gives its best:
Silky strength surrounds the speck,
Layer on layer, to earn some rest
And cushion the pain of that flaming fleck.

A pearl, jewel of serenity,
Wouldn’t have happened without the hurt.
Dreamy peace, clouds of eternity,
Have wrapped in beauty that grain of dirt;

And when this little life has reached its end,
Peace at last, under the rocking tides,
Here is the treasure that will send
Divers searching, thrilled, where it hides.

A precious moon of loveliness lies in your hand;
No trace of the torture that bought its birth;
Silvery orb of mystery, veiling the sand
That made this life a million’s worth.