The Limpet &; The Hermit Crab

THE LIMPET &; THE HERMIT CRAB

Sometimes, mulling over situations I can't control
I revert to the state of a limpet, hiding
Small and sheltered in my shell, on my sole
In the firm, moist ears of the rock confiding

Clinging to all I know and lazily residing
Away from the shoreline in my merciful hole
From the sneering and chiding, taunting and deriding
Of the backwash and its sly, easy roll

Sometime I'd like to be a nautilus
Hunt in the deep and dark
Not in the swell
Til then I shall carry this limpet shell

You've found a new home recently
Where you too may hide from the sea's many teeth
It's a conical, hollow rock you call contempt
Those long spines that pertrude from it are disgust
Being large and ungainly it's a threatening sight
Too heavy and lumpen to wield as a weapon
But it barricades your shores well, friend
So that we may both recede when we like
Into emotional hermiture
When the coast is clear we can creep again
I snail
You march
In search of fodder for indifference