The loss of you
Is a grain of sharp sand
Embedded in my heart
It hurts with every move
Every tortured breath
But I know
That if I can only hold up
Long enough
The time
And the pain
And the living
That flows over it
Will form a thin,
Smooth, gleaming layer
Around this tiny fragment
And then
It will not hurt
Quite so much.

More time
More friends
More living  and
Less thinking  
Will add coat
After coat
After coat,
And one day
Some day
It will form
Into a pearl.

And then
I'll hardly feel it at all!

That little
Sharp...
... grain of sand.