Terrapin Traits

Swimming out of necessity
Their flippers kicking back,
These homebody terrapins
Are never out of whack

Their shells look as if painted
With the finest hand and brush,
Their forms, to me, totemic
Their voices, a multi-volume hush

They move with utter grace
And eat with proper utensils,
They do not speak or write a word
For they've means better than pencils

They treat each other with respect,
Except when they do not...
They show their love without pretension
And for that, they're adored a lot

Yet, sometimes one makes the other mad
And is ignored quite much
But cold spells never endure entire days
So again, they dance and touch

When their minds imbibe a sudden idea
And decide it's good as gold
The tenacity which they proceed
Could cure the common cold

Their daily lives are never a bore to watch
Every simple movement is so enchanting
If I attempted to describe this with my tongue
In a very short while I'd be panting

They show there can be continuity
Among all varied walks of life
I feel such strong connection with these turtles
Albeit our relatedness is slight

Our lives with them are never linear
There are oscillations, twists, and turns
So just when we think we know them well...
There's another thing to learn