Misanthronistic
At Cape Bojeador
Walking the beach at daybreak I came on a violet sea urchin
geometrically perfect in it's delicate design;
and I thought of a certain woman who I know and admire,
as fragile as that urchin, as flawless in color and line.
Going back the next morning I saw it there again,
crushed in a footprint, thin bone mixed with sand.
And I grieved for it and for women, millions of eggshell women,
and time in his heedless stroll over brow and breast and hand.
-Dorthy Lee Richardson
Walking the beach at daybreak I came on a violet sea urchin
geometrically perfect in it's delicate design;
and I thought of a certain woman who I know and admire,
as fragile as that urchin, as flawless in color and line.
Going back the next morning I saw it there again,
crushed in a footprint, thin bone mixed with sand.
And I grieved for it and for women, millions of eggshell women,
and time in his heedless stroll over brow and breast and hand.
-Dorthy Lee Richardson