The Onion and the Pearl

The Onion and the Pearl

John Savoie

after Blake

“Love first pricks the tender heart,
then laves that thorn in tears and light,
rolling round our secret ache
the nacreous jewel of great price.”

So sang an iridescent pearl
tumbling among the shells and sand,
while an onion on the block
wept beneath the slicing hand:

“Life is but a skein of stains,
who we are from what we’ve done,
strip away, tear by tear,
and naught remains, all is gone.”

Note: in line eleven the first tear, pronounced [tir], is the noun for lachrymal secretion; the second tear, pronounced [ter], is the noun (and lurking verb) signifying rip.

---

John Savoie
Teacher & Writer

John teaches great books at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Best New Poets, and Poetry in Motion, as well as Dappled Things and the much missed Behemoth.

Photography by Aditi Gautam