hermit
the lair of a hermit
how can i describe it
withdrawn like a viridian crab
whose singular shore line ballad
played around the rock-pools
to a small silver chorus of whitebait
so in echo
adults dressed as children
will be called to the pincer words
of his enchantment
will be beguiled by its singular practicabilities
and to its deep shoaled aphorism
and lulled by its lyric wavelike
meandering in and around the stones and shells
and vertebrae and the embryonic fluids
that spawn in the very centres of our shallow ocean
indeed he will move in physicality like a crab
but his mind is far more supple
with the slinky slip drawn on like say the octopus
whose occupants he wore its draw string tied
like a rough bag around his waist
his thanks given garments three men too large
and his disheveled watered nose and pissing eyes
a glow with cold
a man on the outward wane
but with an inner strength to hold
like that draw string
tenacious round the gritty rock thrall of life
until a wave of old temerity
removes the promise of tomorrow
and bad weather washes all away
except those particles of wisdom
born to drift among the inner shores
potent food for smaller fry