Answer:
What is the thing which, once poured out, cannot be gathered again?
I am never quite what I appear to be. Straight-forward I seem, but it's only skin deep. For mystery most often lies beneath my simple speech. Sharpen your wits, open your eyes, look beyond my exteriors, read me backwards, forwards, upside down. Think and answer the question...
What 8 letter word can have a letter taken away and it still makes a word. Take another letter away and it still makes a word. Keep on doing that until you have one letter left. What is the word?
A red drum which sounds without being touched, and grows silent, when it is touched.
Large as a mountain, small as a pea, Endlessly swimming in a water-less sea.
Iām grown from darkness but shine with a pale light. Very round I am and always a lady's delight.