THE RAINDROP AND THE SEA

I quote what someone else has said,
But wish to make a new point with its aid.
"A raindrop fell into the sea; And awed
By its expanse, it thought:
‘By God,
I am a mere nonentity
Beside the sea.
If it exists, then surely I do not."’
There came out of the sea a sound,
Loud and profound,
As of a voice, and it declaimed
"You do not have to be ashamed
Of being small
And feel so sad.
For all
Your smallness, you have had
Experiences which were great.
You have watched dawn and evening alternate.
You have seen orchard, plain and glade.
Suspended on a blade
Of grass or a cloud-flake,
You. have reflected the sun’s rays.
There have been days
On which it fell to you to slake
The thirst of desert shrubs. Again,
There were days when you soothed the pain
In the rent bosom of a rose.
At times you slumbered in the vine
To wake up as a potent liquid – wine.
At other times abed
In dust, you made mere mud.
It was out of my waves that you arose.
Born of me, you come back to me,
Come back to be
A part of me. Now rest
In my broad breast,
And make my mirror gleam
With one more beam
Of light. Become a pearl and be
Lodged in the depths of me –
My moon, my star,
As bright as those of the sky are."