Pain

Your pain is the breaking of the shell

that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break,

that its heart may stand in the sun,

so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder

at the daily miracles of your life,

your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,

even as you have always accepted the seasons

that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity

through the winters of your grief.