Hermit crab

Hermit crab makes a career
out of shedding houses.
Feel a little pinched?
unwind from your spiral stair,
go out, and seek more
commodious quarters.

That time outside your walls:
Do you feel afraid,
exposed to wind and waves?
Or relief at being out?
Or even joy to be open
at so many points along your skin,
like seeing with a thousand eyes?

Do you swim,
or slither,
or crawl on tiny legs,
searching
till you find that larger shell,
that more widely winding stair?

Do you move in
with the thrill of finding
clear wide rooms, neatly curving walls?
Or do you turn, once more,
and look out
around the round horizon
before, a little sadly,
you move yourself
inside?

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 © 2005, Lenore Horowitz