The oyster way

An irritating grain of sand

or pesky piece of grit,

it slips inside the oyster shell

and finds a place to sit.

The oyster greets the irksome pest,

confronts it face to face,

bestows it with a soft caress,

a silky, smooth embrace.

How wonderful our lives could be,

how great for me and you

if we could tackle obstacles

the way the oysters do.

We’d gather all those gritty bits

that grind in vicious swirls

then smooth and sculpture each in turn

to shape a string of pearls.

©  Jenny Erlanger