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 

• The Palace by Alcaeus Ἀλκαῖος Алкей
• Storm by Alcaeus Ἀλκαῖος Алкей
• Poor Fisherman by Alcaeus Ἀλκαῖος Алкей
• Invitation by Alcaeus Ἀλκαῖος Алкей
• A Banquet Song by Alcaeus Ἀλκαῖος Алкей
• Written In A Volume Of The Comtesse De Noailles by Alan Seeger
• With A Copy Of Shakespeares Sonnets On Leaving College by Alan Seeger
• Vivien by Alan Seeger
• Virginibus Puerisque by Alan Seeger
• Translations Dante Inferno Canto Xxvi by Alan Seeger
• To England At The Outbreak Of The Balkan War by Alan Seeger
• Tithonus by Alan Seeger
• The Wanderer by Alan Seeger
• The Torture Of Cuauhtemoc by Alan Seeger
• The Sultans Palace by Alan Seeger
• The Rendezvous by Alan Seeger
• The Old Lowe House Staten Island by Alan Seeger
• The Nympholept by Alan Seeger
• The Need To Love by Alan Seeger
• The Hosts by Alan Seeger

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