Pebbles Not Pearls

I was promised pearls, but I was given pebbles. I was promised steel, but I was given stones. I was promised gold, but I was given gravel. And I, with hopeful, cupped hands, accepted them all as if they were treasure. I polished the pebbles until my fingers bled, trying to make them shine like something they were not. I tried to build a fortress from the stones, and a road to the future from the gravel. Now, I see the truth in my palms: the dull weight of the pebble, the brittle edge of the stone, the shifting,unstable bed of gravel. I will no longer polish what was never meant to shine. I will no longer build on what was meant to scatter. I will gather the pebbles, the stones, the gravel— not as treasures,but as lessons. And I will use them to mark the path so I never get lost here again. -----ORB---