A poem for my daughter on her 13th birthday.
The Oyster
The oyster sits silent.
Centuries of water,
Thousands of rivers through time
Motionless but all motions
Of life: water, salt, blood.
Breathe in, Breathe out.
Then, that dastardly speck of sand
Arrives!
On the scene to do its job,
Cause havoc and inflict pain.
But, in the darkness, the oyster stops not
Her toil, endures the speck’s hard edges -
Labors and layers
To make the sharp smooth.
Finally, the heroine wins.
Coats the dirt and grows the pearl,
White with glints of gold and pink.
A gift from God,
A gift to all.
