The Calico Box Crab
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For 1403 Poetry Contest sponsored by Brian Strand
Once, an aged fisherman was heard to speak
from a boat on the shore of Chesapeake Bay.
His voice, like every bone and plank that did creak,
(as the ocean waves came in to splash and spray)
about a creature, singular and unique,
"'twas eighty-seven years ago to the day.
When I was just up to a grasshopper's knee
I saw the calico box crab by the sea.
As I stood near the sand on a slick sea slab,
in an earthly appearance of God's good grace,
it was then that I saw it - I saw the crab,
sporting a spotted, colorful carapace,
a crustacean, that never was dull nor drab.
I would always remember the special place
where I first found the joy I couldn't foresee,
meeting the calico box crab by the sea.
I tried gently to touch her, with my right hand,
but I scared the calico box crab away,
as she disappeared swiftly in the soft sand.
I come back to this place each year on this day,
but I won't come again. My time is at hand,
and I'm going to Heaven, but I can say,
'I never touched her, but I once got to see
the pretty calico box crab by the sea.'"
Copyright © David Crandall | Year Posted 2025
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