Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes? br The wading, wintered pack-beasts of the feet br slough off, in spring, the dead rind of the shoes’ br leather detention, the big toe’s yellow horn br shines with a natural polish, and the whole br person seems to profit. The opposite appears br when dead sharks wash up along the beach br for no known reason. What is more built br for winning than the swept-back teeth, br water-finished fins, and pure bad eyes br these old, efficient forms of appetite br are dressed in? Yet it looks as if the sea br digested what it wished of them with viral ease br and threw up what was left to stink and dry. br If this shows how the sea approaches life br in its propensity to feed as animal entire, br then sharks are comforts, feet are terrified, br but they vacation in the mystery and why not? br Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?: br what the sun burns up of it, the moon puts back.