A trespasser insinuates its grit
through corrugated portals. So it’s gone
and ever will; the sand is infinite
as insects, inexorable as dawn.
The host is irritated and reacts
by isolating, coating, adding size
until that laminate through cataracts
of antibodies grows into a prize.

I would you take the oyster for a guide,
and imitate its wisdom. Awesome pain
invades you now. Attend it well, and curl
your soul about the irritant inside.
Arrange a buffer round its rough terrain,
apply yourself to it and build a pearl.