pearl diver

someone says

it can’t be worth much

so small and round like that

hardly any size at all

barely visible to the eye

another holds it in their palm

examines

and estimates its value

feels its surface and weight

drops their monocle

a couple thousand

but there is one

whose shadow lingers in the room

where it rests in its box

even after the sun

has sunk into the sea

he is the only one

who understands its true worth

to him

it is the only one in the world

because

he is the only one

who remembers its journey

through murky waters

and pitch-black darkness

the journey

to that place

that has been forgotten

that painful

dangerous path

lonely

and persistent

through dead waters

he is

the pearl diver