This poem is taken from my latest book The Wait Of Water, as is the above illustration, which is by Alison Wilson. We have worked together on many occasions over the years.
THE PEARL
The sea runs colder,
longer, deeper.
She dives for a pearl
she does not want but needs,
spies the enigmatic shell,
wrestles it loose,
then rises too cold for hope.
The point of her mother’s knife
releases the secret,
opalescent in sunlight,
a rare beauty she will be cheated out of.
Perhaps she will be left just enough.
This sort of thing happens
once in a lifetime.
The poem was inspired by the parable. The diver will be cheated out of the true worth of her find for such is the Babylonian world we live in.
Here's Judee Sill with The Pearl.
Until next time.
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