Shy armadillo of the sea
Lumbersome oaf that hides from me
Graceless and awkward as you move,
Is there some lesson you will prove?
Your dull abode so lacking charm
That keeps your limbs quite safe from harm
Is not a fancy place at all
In fact it’s really rather small.
Tortoise in color, sometimes green
The plainest creature I have seen
Like a lump in a seaweed hill
You dig in sand and lie so still,
There warm yourself in private sun
Until your turn in life is done.
In gentle waves where you belong
You make no sound, you sing no song.
Covered with moss, barnacles too
You inch along your lifetime through
Dodging rocks too close to a ledge,
You hide beyond the water’s edge.
I wonder now if you do know
About the tides and undertow?
Such a long life leaves me no doubt
You must know what this world’s about.
From your home on the ocean floor
Carelessly you seem to ignore
Those birds in flight that rush around
To swoop and snatch your young aground.
It dawns on me as I watch you pass
Your life resembles an hourglass
Where slowly trickle the sands of time,
You live, but only in pantomime.
Claire V. Bogdanos 