Said one oyster

to a neighboring oyster,

"I have a great pain within me

It is heavy and round

and I am in distress."

And the other oyster replied

with haughty complacence,

"Praise be to the heavens and to the sea,

I have no pain within me.

I am well and whole

both within and without."

At that moment a crab was passing by

and heard the two oysters,

and he said to the one

who was well and whole

both within and without,

"yes, you are well and whole;

but the pain that your neighbor bears

is a pearl of great beauty."

~Kahlil Gibran