A chipped, dirty stone
lies upon a grim, grey beach.
Thousands of others are alongside it.
The sea has bruised and battered it.
Children have thrown it in delight.
Lonesome adults have hurled it,
against huge rocks.
It stood no chance.

One day, the stone can bear
this abuse no longer. It breaks.

***

You are that stone. What you see
is only what you've been taught -
that you're identical to every other.
You're just a plaything, too lowly
even to be kept as a memory.
Recently people have been interested
and looked at you longer than
the rest of these pebbles.

You don't realise it,
but that day,
when you finally broke apart...
you revealed a thousand, gleaming crystals.