A little anniversary poem...

30

It isn’t always down to the grit,

whatever they say.
Some pearls are ‘cultured’ -
seeded, a bead at the centre
carefully placed.

A seed of hope -

not knowing what will be learnt and unlearnt,
a seed of faith -
able to stretch and hold
both joy and pain,
a seed of love -
there as a first beginning.

Love, adding a layer, year by year

each with its own lustre
lit by all we have shared -
homes, people, children
challenge and call,
despair and delight,
layers coloured more deeply
as light falls through each one.

A pearl beyond price

made not of nacre’s sheen
but grown from grace.
A wonder and a source of praise -
another on the never ending string
formed in human hearts and lives,
all held in the ocean’s deepest depths of love.