Plague Of Dead Sharks

A poem by Alan Dugan

Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?

The wading, wintered pack-beasts of the feet

slough off, in spring, the dead rind of the shoes’

leather detention, the big toe’s yellow horn

shines with a natural polish, and the whole

person seems to profit. The opposite appears

when dead sharks wash up along the beach

for no known reason. What is more built

for winning than the swept-back teeth,

water-finished fins, and pure bad eyes

these old, efficient forms of appetite

are dressed in? Yet it looks as if the sea

digested what it wished of them with viral ease

and threw up what was left to stink and dry.

If this shows how the sea approaches life

in its propensity to feed as animal entire,

then sharks are comforts, feet are terrified,

but they vacation in the mystery and why not?

Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?:

what the sun burns up of it, the moon puts back.

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Poems in English 

• Content Written Off Ithica poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Chi È? poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• By The Fates poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Burns’s Statue At Irvine poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• “Beyond the pasture’s withered bents ” poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• Before, Behind, And Beyond poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• “Because I failed, shall I asperse the End” poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At Vaucluse poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At The Lattice poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At The Gate Of The Convent poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At Shelley’s House At Lerici poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At Shelley’s Grave poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• At San Giovanni Del Lago poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Woman’s Apology poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Wintry Picture poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Wintry Picture (II) poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Wild Rose poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Voice From The West poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Twilight Song poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin
• A Tusculan Question poem – Alfred Austin by Alfred Austin

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Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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