The Paper Nautilus

Beautiful, seemingly happy! Perhaps no life would be worse than of the paper nautilus, A something grasping and drinking the ocean’s glass Poised nakedly in its mother’s reflect Even as her fine skin dissolves, Placing her lessons weighty as the whale,

For she must thrive, striving to mimic— Mastering sunlight’s parts as they flick out Like pearls lying on the ocean floor.

And when this creature is brought
Into the limitlessness of swimming yet self losing, Her dainty bones shall last
More than the roiling heat Of obliterating tides beneath.

• Marianne Moore