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PEARLS
The Oyster
There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell Who found that some sand Had got into his shell.
It was only a grain but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings Although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate
that had brought him to such a deplorable state? Did he curse at the government
Cry for election
And claim that the sea should have given him protection?
'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell Since I cannot remove it I shall try to improve it.
Now the years have rolled around
As the years always do And he came to his ultimate Destiny
- stew. And the small grain of sand That had bothered him so Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow. Now the tale has a moral
for isn't it grand What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand? What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin With some of the things That get under our skin.
David Cohen
What should we do? What do we do? The oyster gives us something to think about.
THE FIRST STEP OF JAINISM
119
ainelik
