The Paper Nautilus

I.  Submission
    and rigidity
        give it its lustre.   As if looking
    out through fog,
            I see it.    I would lie on the
    beach and watch
    for it; or while
        my eyes were at
            the edge of this
                one great sand,
                    beheld
    it halt, and when
    pushed over, rest.
Why should
it offend my touch?
A lively
    smoothness
    is demanded; to me, 
however, the part
    is defined.   This shell bears
witness to the making.    ----

• Marianne Moore