this crushing force may yet reveal
a truer nature concealed within this mass of mine
or again may not...

I catalog known catalysts
Fire, for wood or lead or gold
Earth, alike for seeds or gems
Water, limestone's patient shaper
These please me with their hopeful progress

Yet regard the lowly grain of sand
all unknowing on its path
To pearl, or glass, or merely sand

We are but multitudes of matter,
washing in and out along the strand.