Breath & Shadow

POETRY

PAUL KAHN

The Pearl

What is this pearl,
that I have given you
in token of our love?

Can you hold it like a crystal ball
and glimpse in its cloudy depths
a universe of images,
rich promises about our entwined lives
that we are readying ourselves to share?

Can you see in it our seed —
new life, new forms, new songs —
that will be our gift to the world we love,
because it has given us each other?

Can you see
how limitless our possibilities are,
how even in this tiny, opalescent eye
imagination can create the Milky Way?

Paul Kahn has published poetry in Ibbetson Street, Breath & Shadow, Sahara, and the Inglis House poetry of disability anthologies Something Close to Beautiful and On the Outskirts. His plays have been staged around the country and at many venues in Massachusetts.

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