Exoskeleton

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Some people will tell you
that lobsters are
biologically immortal.
They molt their shells
and come out
of the experience
looking
brand new,
erasing all their scrapes
and scratches.

But nobody knows the number
of times they can
do this
because eventually
lobsters do die.

They die from becoming too
large,
the act of molting becomes
too great
for them
to accomplish.

Eventually
lobsters do
die, only
when they choose to.
When going on becomes
too great
a task.

How many times have I
molted?
How many
suits of
armor have I called
mine? And, maybe
the greatest question,
what has stayed
in this
center
all along?

Maybe I’ll never finish
getting
to know
myself. Maybe it is
too great
a task . . .

. . . I wonder
how does a lobster feels
before it’s gotten to
know it's new
shell . . . .