[Kzyxtalk] Easter poem, 2017

[John Sakowicz]

The Atlantic horseshoe crab; they are "royalty" about earth's creatures -- ancient, prehistoric, almost 450 million years old. This is a mystic poem, intended to be read aloud, like a prayer. It was written at Orr Hot Springs over the Easter weekend, 2017. 

THE HORSESHOE CRAB 





As kids, my brother Billy and I trapped a horseshoe crab at 

Jones Beach. 
We trapped the crab in a little berm we made at the beach's 

wrack line 
from gravel, shingle, and pebbles . At high tide, the crab 

washed in and got trapped. 

The crab looked lonely and sad, so Billy threw a few mollusk 

shells and some coralline algae 

into the pool of seawater held back by the berm to make the 

crab feel more at home. 

But the crab would have none of it. 
Dark brown with eyes askew, the crab struggled 

to climb the berm; 
its telson swinging from side to side like a sword, and its six 

pairs of appendages 
on the underside of its cephalothorax pinched and pinched the 

air in desperation. 




The horseshoe crab was trapped. Billy and I watched it 

struggle for hours until the offshore winds 
picked up and the sun started to set. 
The horseshoe crab has a large compound eye 

with monochromatic vision 
found on each side of the prosoma; It has another five simple 

eyes on the carapace, 
and two simple eyes on its underside, just in front of the mouth, 

making a total of nine eyes. 




I swear to God when that crab died, every eye blinked shut 

all together for the last time. 




This year, I will turn 65. North wind. Winter winds. "You are my 

Moon," the horseshoe crab calls, 


"I shall follow you and climb the continental shelf and emerge 

at the shoreline in late spring to spawn." 




"We are One," my heart answers. "I, too, search for home, for 

a place in the light -- safe and free!" 




"I, too, am Spine Tail, whipping left, right," I go on. 




"I too, am All-Legs, pinching the air, past the children's 

hands,.arms." 




"I, too, am Nine Eyes, seeing nine gates, nine worlds." 







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