The Emperor is Dead

[Guest]

Alas, Poor Norton, I hardly knew ye: You were the saddest little crab I'd ever seen. Your shell was crack'd, you could not hide, Your feet were broken, missing leg. It hurt you to walk. I saw you in the store and couldn't leave you there to die. So I brought you home. I fed you. I gave you the waters of life. You left your broken home and entered one anew, But then you sat, and stared, and ate no more. Two miserable, suffering weeks you lingered, And then my houseguest saw you, Naked, Dragging your pitiful body through the tank, You painfully, slowly climbed into the sea water And there you sat. But you would not reshell, and you lingered In the twilight time between life and death for another long day. But there was no mistaking your passing The odor from your shrinking remains was unmistakable. And so I wept For you, the crab I never got to know. Farewell, you poor, doomed beast. Farewell.