Ode for the Deep Sea Turtle

Of the deep sea turtle

As with you and me

It's equally true

That we feel safer
When hidden in 

Whatever it was
 We once were

This is a secret
To our survival

That the past is

Valuable enough

To carry around with us as
A permanent attachment

And whether deep
In metaphor or flesh
The messages encoded
On our backs may indeed
Be difficult for us to see
Let alone understand
Such is the opacity
Of our dreams
Which nonetheless eventually
Come to encase us just as
A shell does the Leatherback

In the end
We're most alive

In our extremities

Yet always at the ready

To draw inward
If and when we feel
Unduly threatened
Or attacked

 Deep Sea Turtle by M. Bridge