The Hermit Crab
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 set 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
From House of Light by Mary Oliver
For another perspective on the sea and death and life, see what naturalist Loren Eiseley has to say in :
The Star Thrower
And for your viewing delight, here are some more remarkable hermit crab images from my good friend and photojournalist Jan Messersmith. Be sure to visit his journal on “life in paradise” in Madang, Papua, New Guinea. You’ll find some of the best underwater and reef photography on the internet:
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