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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• A Channel Passage by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• 1914 V: The Soldier by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• 1914 IV: The Dead by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• 1914 II: Safety by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• 1914 I: Peace by Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke
• When Day Is Done by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• When and Why by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Vocation by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Untimely Leave by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Twelve O’Clock by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• Threshold by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Wicked Postman by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Unheeded Pageant by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Source by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Sailor by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Recall by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Lotus by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore
• The Little Big Man by Rabindranath Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore

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