A Tortoise Poem by john tiong chunghoo

the tortoise is just inadequate
she has been treating
the same way everyone
of another kind

a supercilious front
to shroud weaknesses
broadcasting insouciance
with a hard hard shell

she knows she has a birthright
a hard headed advantage
with its shell signed
with letters from heaven
nobody is allowed even to knock on
it, protected species

here she is behaving in ways
that turn people away
without even knowing why

ten thousand years from now
she would be still in her same state
and behaving the same way
one big curvy hard hard shell
as the world shuttles to a new sphere

poor tortoise! poor tortoise!