Thoughts as a hermit crab passes

Poetry by | April 8, 2018



The hermit crab drags its shell through a patch of grass

drenched by a passing shower.

The drops of rainwater stick to its battered home,

slowing it down until it hardly moves.

But a hermit crab is not a bird that stops flying

when rainwater soaks its wings;

a hermit crab is a hermit crab.

He scratches the ground with his claws,

crawling with his shell looming behind him.

How tiresome must it be

to have your world’s weight upon you all your years,

to have everything bear down on your shoulders

like a hermit crab’s shell.

But how wonderful must it be

to never have to leave home again.


Jade Monteverde Baylon is a BA English (Creative Writing) graduate from UP Mindanao. If you know of a house for rent around downtown Davao, please email him.

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