Julia Griffin: Anti-Ark
Observing earthly climate change, the LORD, again put out,
Decided on destruction not by deluge but by drought.
The land dried up, there were no clouds (so clearly none was dark),
The sea shrank back, and everywhere became a sort of ark:
A holding-pen for animals, the difference being just
That now there was no Noah, and their food was full of dust.
There was no Noah, no; but nonetheless, a small élite
Was charged with partial salvage: not, this time, élite with feet,
But rather fins or pincers or a crusty sort of rind,
And other choice equipment of an oceanic kind.
Together they collaborated (how, I do not know)
On setting up a tank, replete with precious H2O,
Then leaping, climbing, slithering, and hitching of a ride,
Till all the representatives were safely lodged inside.
The turtles, cockles, oysters, and the whole crustacean crew,
Unclean by nature, were confined, numerically, to two;
And so, when drops first fell again upon the shrivelled land,
And calls went out for volunteers to recce at first hand,
These species showed a certain marked unwillingness to scout –
Although, of course, the best designed for carrying it out.
“O why,” snapped each crustacean spouse, “should this devolve on us,
Considering that ever-lasting dietary fuss?
You kosher crowd have seven each: why shouldn’t it be you?”
But finally the common good, or something like, won through:
A lobster bold agreed to an exploratory spree –
And rapidly retreated, the reverse of all-at-sea;
But this won fame, a prospect far too tempting to withstand,
And next a turtle tried. Her shell was quickly strewn with sand:
Not, though, the soft and floaty sort, all whiskery and light,
But heavy, dark, and juicy (all the eels implored a bite).
So shortly, both the hermit crabs consented, nothing loath,
To try a longer journey – but they stipulated both.
Then all the gallant tankonauts came crowding to the glass,
And through their watered window saw a wonder come to pass:
Across the starchy, parchy, ignominious terrain,
They saw two crabs a-jiving in the rain! –
And once again:
A-jiving and a-thriving in the driving, driving rain.