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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tortoises, by D. H. Lawrence
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Title: Tortoises
Author: D. H. Lawrence
Release Date: August 31, 2007 [EBook #22475]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
- START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TORTOISES ***
Produced by David Widger
TORTOISES
By D. H. Lawrence
NEW YORK
THOMAS SELTZER
1921
CONTENTS
Baby Tortoise
Tortoise-Shell
Tortoise Family Connections
Lui et Elle
Tortoise Gallantry
Tortoise Shout
BABY TORTOISE
You know what it is to be born alone,
Baby tortoise!
The first day to heave your feet little by little
from the shell,
Not yet awake,
And remain lapsed on earth,
Not quite alive.
A tiny, fragile, half-animate bean.
To open your tiny beak-mouth, that looks as if
it would never open,
Like some iron door;
To lift the upper hawk-beak from the lower base
And reach your skinny little neck
And take your first bite at some dim bit of
herbage,
Alone, small insect,
Tiny bright-eye,
Slow one.
To take your first solitary bite
And move on your slow, solitary hunt.
Your bright, dark little eye,
Your eye of a dark disturbed night,
Under its slow lid, tiny baby tortoise,
So indomitable.
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