Shells

/ moragnoffke

Letting go.

And so as spring returns to the southern hemisphere so does my spring-cleaning continues with renewed fervor. At the same time my mind creatively processes my life from beginning to end. I collected shells and dead insects from when I was in junior school till recently. Oddly insects are also like shells, they protect the soft creature within. Here is a poem that came to me as I repurposed my collection of shells. 

Shells were such a treasure,
back then;
bringing home little bits of pleasure;
holding colourful memories
in my hand
like photographs 
they now remind me 
of people, places and times - 
of blissful happiness. 
Better than any sweet or treat
are the "flavours" of the past.
Now I say goodbye to these little jewels
but I still hold each and every memory
in my heart. 
These shells were once homes 
to other soft creatures
more valuable to them than to me
yet now soft creatures have gone 
and one day I too will vacate my home.

Letting go and embracing loss.

You want to know how I repurposed the shells? Well as I am much more into minimalism these days and don’t collect things anymore I have a place for them in my garden, like a sandy beach, next to the pool. They will slowly decay and whiten in the sun until they crumble away. And the insects will go back to where they came from, dust to dust. For as a life long collector it is, in truth, quite a wrench to let go of such”friends” but I embrace the cycle of life and death, or created and crumbling. Everything has a time and place.

Take care,

27 thoughts on “Shells”

  2. Beautiful. I was a collector in my younger days, too, but now I prefer the simpler life as well. I like your idea of letting nature take its course, and allowing things to go back to the way they once were. The circle of life 🙂

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  6. A lovely poem!! I must admit I still collect shells and many other things too – once I had so many large shells that I made a ‘curtain’ from them, drilling holes in each shell and hanging them from lengths of twine. They were prettily immortalised like that. Happy Spring cleaning!

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  8. I love your poem Morag 💌 … that it’s bringing home pleasures and memories!
    Whenever I’m walking on the beach, I always pick up one (or maybe two) shells and bring it home … they then find a forever place in the succulents’ pots (and just like you’ve said … eventually it returns to a fine white dust).

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  9. Beautiful poem!!! I love that you collected the shells and dead insects. Also love how you described them as “Oddly insects are also like shells, they protect the soft creature within.” Never thought of it that way! Then returning “dust to dust”. A beautiful way of viewing the circle of life!

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