art by Josephine Wall

The Pearl
Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster,
"I have a great pain within me
It is heavy and round and I am in distress."
And the other oyster replied with haughty complacence,
"Praise be to the heavens and to the sea,
I have no pain within me.
I am well and whole both within and without."
At that moment a crab was passing by and heard the two oysters,
and he said to the one who was well and whole both within and without,
"yes, you are well and whole; but the pain that your neighbor bears
is a pearl of great beauty."
~Kahlil Gibran~