Not every oyster's mantle yields
a perfect pearl within its folds,
an iridescence rare revealed
that one who sought can now behold.
But when that lustrous glow is spied,
a patient faith the seeker's guide,
he soon forgets the toil and time
it took to find one orb sublime.
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Author Notes
A rispetto consists of two quatrains in iambic tetrameter.
The first verse is in abab rhyme while the second is in ccdd.
This poem refers, of course, to natural pearls that occur in the wild, not cultured pearls that are farmed. Only one in thousands of mollusks will produce any pearl at all, and most of them are imperfect in shape and color. The pearl is formed when a microscopic irritant gets trapped in the mantle, or soft tissue, of a mollusk. Until the 19th Century when diamonds became the most valued gem, pearls had a mythic stature in cultures around the globe.
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