Self-portrait of a grain of sand

There are billions of us, sitting on one tiny beach that nobody goes to
While there are also lots of us on beaches that people do go to
We do not serve a purpose on this planet
But we do make people enjoy paradise
You get lucky if you are one of the grains at the bottom of the layers
Near the wet muck, living healthy and not dry
At the top we get crushed, and sat on by thousands of people daily
The feeling of us all being compressed together whenever a single
Person lays down anything
We have no strength or power
Just getting shifted and moved around no matter what we do
Getting put inside of peoples clothing
The big monsters just ruin us
It’s all they do, they’ll leave their trash on top of us
Blocking our view of the sunset that only the top layer can see
They destroy everything we love
Take hundreds of us with them and away from us forever
We are just put here, we can’t control our lives and what we do
Some of us floating out into the sea
Letting the water control our lives and what we do
None of us are special, there’s so many of us that look the same
Just minuscule bits of erosion from the big rocks
Serving no purpose

— Tiago Pereira