I am J.
J., they say.
Here’s a gift for you today.

Look! A treasure in the ground
It was lost but now it’s found.

“I would have that treasure, J.
I would give my goods away.”

Would you give them for a pearl?
(Maybe for a special girl?)

“Yes! I’ll give them, J.-they-say!
It’s a price I’m glad to pay,
Pay it for a special pearl
(though I have no special girl)
Pay it for the loot I found
that was buried in the ground.”

What about a net of fish?
Would you eat that kind of dish?

“I would not eat that kind of dish,
dear J., not every kind of fish.”

Then bring the net up to the shore
and get three baskets—maybe four.
In the baskets, put the fish
that go into your seafood dish.
All the good we’ll keep, you see
And throw the bad away from me.
For in the kingdom, so they say
the bad will all be cast away.
The angels work their separation
while righteous ones, in glad elation
live in joy of heart’s desires
while evil weep in furnace fires.

“I shall avoid the furnace fires,
J., and find my heart’s desires.
The kingdom bids my glad elation,
and so through angels’ separation
I gladly cast my goods away
to win the prize, and firmly say,
‘The precious pearl belongs to me.’
The hidden treasure, too, you see,
for I would rather loose my all
than wander, deaf to heaven’s call.”