Earthenware

So keen to try,
I handle life with pride
until one day
it slips
between my hands
and crashes down
around me.

Shattered,
I wait for God
to cry and shout,
"I told you so!"

Instead
he stoops
to where I fall,
and picking up
the broken parts
he says,
"Don't cry.
It's only earthenware,
that's all."

by Alma Barkman