kaolin fire presents :: writing :: poetry :: WithintheShell

"WithintheShell"

Armadillo rotting there upon the desert ground
with peace do you entrench yourself?  is that what you have found?
One day you said I'll leave them be and roll myself around
into this protective shell of mine... in this way you were bound.

What pleasures did you seek, inside your chitinous shell?
What manner of creature did you fear, and did it fare as well?
I suppose one day you just gave up and none are left to tell
of this armadillo rotting here... leaving nothing but its smell.

The stench I speak of is quite a reek... a fear all of it's own
No mating scents for you my friend, do you enjoy your final home?
No one to clean the dust, all tossed about and blown
about this armadillo rotting here, sheltered but alone.

Within your protective shell did you see your own demise?
What were your final thoughts under the Chevy's heavy tires?
Were you asleep when the world had decided you'd expired?
or were you wise to all the pain? is that what you desired?

Was your shell for fun or profit, for pain or pleasure, man?
I know that it were one, or perhaps the other then...
If it were one, what was the pleasure in being stepped upon?
and if it were the other, what had your motives been?

Did you cry out for attention, was that why you suffered such?
A martyr, man, to suffer pain, and glory in its touch?
Did you like the pain itself, my friend, enjoy it all that much?
or are you deeper then, a guru to make me blush?

Is your wisdom yours or does it come from another source?
Did your wisdom tell you of it's final, deadly course?
Are you such material that you'd bow to such a force?
or is the knowledge safe within that life was such a farce?

Was it just one random happy joke that dropped us in this place,
that I could see, engraved perhaps, the look upon your face?
Is this all there is, coincidence, to mark our final days?
armadillo, are you there, or are you out in space?

Have you transcended, then, to a heaven above our heads?
Is there more to you than lies rotting in this former river bed?
Do you look now down upon yourself with sorrow or regret?
Or do you smile the contented grin, safe with  knowledge yet?

Shall you leave me here, pondering your own demise?
A waif of sorts traveling  life with my own desires...
should I follow your course and hole up 'til I'm fried?
and if I do will I ever notice the Chevy's heavy tires?