Oyster Shard

Imagine how it got this way,
silt-spackled, snaggy, and porous:
one shy foray up toward moonlight,
then a spring tide, lost bearings,
a throw against the rocks.

Turn it over, curious eyes,
turn it in the light through gentle clouds
and see how, inside, it has born its fate
in dream layered on dream,
devoid of pearls, but mother of them.

Copyright © 2004 Sarah M. Brownsberger All rights reserved
from Meridian
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission