The translucent brown swirls
deepen in tone as they descend
from the smooth anterior
at whose curving edge, an arc of light
both draws one's attention,
and distracts from closer examination,
the fine detail,
the ribbons of chestnut gliding and twisting
around stuttering streaks of terra-cotta
swimming with bands of cinnamon, henna and mahogany
whose currents run deeper through the material
like an earthy cadence that speaks
the animal origin of protective body resins
slowly building in asymmetrical pilings
along the carapace of the hawk billed sea tortoise
now gliding downwards and away
reflecting a bright arc of light
from a diminishing stoic eye…
once viscous and alive
yet now restrained within the polished surface
and the gently rising acclivity,
whose base is a shallow channel
with an orbit equidistant
from the outer edge and the center
where four tiny holes
secure the repetitive bindings
of thin cotton thread
dyed a color matching one of those
that ran like quick silver
beneath the glassy veneer
where, against this almost imperceptible escarpment,
light strikes and casts off
a perfect crescent
differing only in the degree of circumference
and its position along the edge
its magnitude obediently waning
now gliding left and away
like a diminishing stoic eye
