Alan Amos

On Sheerness Beach

pebbles on the beach
each individual
its own markings
its own size
tumbled down the centuries
to land at our feet

each of us
unique we are,
some say tumbled through
a whirlpool of many lives
to be who we are
now

I don't know the answer to this
but even in one life
there is enough shaking around -
parental pummelling
peer group abrasion
inner lesion
forms us

Ah, but I forget one thing more
that can transform dull amber
to a radiance
grace it is called
never found
except
through its own annunciation