The Hermit Crab, Poetry in Bloom
The Hermit Crab
by Mary Oliver
Once I looked inside
the darkness
of a shell folded like a pastry,
and there was a fancy face-
or almost a face -
it turned away
and frisked up its brawny forearms
so quickly
against the light
and my looking in
I scarcely had time to see it,
gleaming
under the pure white roof
of old calcium.
When I sent it down, it hurried
along the tideline
of the sea,
which was slashing along as usual,
shouting and hissing
toward the future,
turning its back
with every tide on the past,
leaving the shore littered
every morning
with more ornaments of death -
what a pearly rubble
from which to choose a house
like a white flower -
and what a rebellion
to leap into it
and hold on,
connecting everything,
the past to the future -
which is of course the miracle -
which is the only argument there is
against the sea.
This is my entry for a fun little Poetry in Bloom Hanover Garden Club exhibit for our town library. Seven of us from the Club will put them on display this morning through Wednesday. I'm especially proud of my little day lily bud claws and lavender eyes :)
For the Record,
This day came in bright, cool and so like a Maine day that I smiled ear to ear when I first stepped out his morning.
All hands healthy
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