- To My Sister

Hid is my hermit crab.
Ashamed of the way
Her scarred shell's
Distorted grains
Reflect off the cage.

Gorgeous growth,
I anticipate how,
Though I turn from her now.
Oh crowded day
You get in my way.

Tired-toss twice worn clothes
On her glass home
To hush her quiet clanking.
A tapping, scratching,
That fades in as I think to listen.

So she suffers
In darkened resentment,
And steady starts the decent
From the same precipice
Off which I fell.

Subterranean she strays:
And wail she will,
But none has the voice to turn her away,
None has a rope that would not fray.
I sympathize still.

But believe,
I smile at the thought.
Not for the hurt she will surely receive,
But for the lies to be untaught.
A release from the injected disease she's caught.

"Awake little hermit crab
And wander out of the mind
This towering town has forced fit into you.
And learn to love
    A lonely night's walk on the sand;
    A crooked smile on an old man's mouth;
    The showering sparks of a land stripped of power.
Dawn your brilliant soul
Which I can already see ablazing beneath your skin.
Show the colorless fields of pulsing corpses
A terror that exists only in another's radiance."

Find, will my hermit crab,
A shell that's right for her.
One that shines and shimmers
And reminds me of angel's breath
Entangled in damp demon whispers.

Gone she'll be then,
But we will meet again,
Above the scraping slabs of time,
Where I will tap, and scratch, incessantly,
For I can't stand not to listen.



- Original Version (Updated Sept 04):

Hide,
Hide my little hermit crab.
Scamper,
Scamper to find cover.
This shell of yours is unflattering;
Distorted grains and a scarred surface.
But you're growing,
Grow my little hermit crab.
And though I turn from you now,
I anticipate the future you will show me.
These days are crowded,
And you get in my way.
Barely notice you under foot.
Toss my twice worn pants onto your glass world
Just to stop your quiet clanking.
A tapping, scratching,
Fades in as I choose to listen.

So I leave you behind in subterranean resentment.
My little hermit crab tastes of her own blood.
And so starts the decent,
From the same precipice
From which I fell.
Once we are falling, we
Can't get the legs to hold you back, we
Can't summon the voice to turn you away.
Besides, I smile at the prospect.
Not for the hurt you will surely receive,
But for the things you will unlearn.
Leave the mind this towering town has forced upon you,
And learn to love
A lonely afternoon walk in the woods,
A crooked smile on an old man's mouth,
The showering sparks of a land stripped of power.
Not as another imprisoned christian middle manager,
But as a brilliant wandering soul
Through a field of colorless stalks.

Hold,
Hold tight my little hermit crab.
Find,
Find my little hermit crab,
A shell that is right for you.
One that shines and shimmers off your wet back.
Remind me of angel breath.
Tell me of demon desires.
We will meet again,
Somewhere in this ocean of time,
And you will be a partner on my shoulders.
Bright flashes
Of blue and green,
Light up the walls of your world,
I will appreciate.
I tap, and scratch, incessantly, for
I can't stand not to listen.