An Old Snail Shell (a Tank)


Over at Weekly Prompts, this weekend is their monthly Colour Challenge, and they selected the colour BROWN. To visit their fabulous site, please click HERE.

A big thank you to, Nancy for being the source of my inspiration for this poem

https://theelephantstrunk.org/2025/08/01/the-shells-2/



An Old Snail Shell (a Tanka)

Rusty and earthen,
I supported her burden.
I was no Spartan,
And asked for no one’s pardon-
I’m a bygone guardian.






Beluga Lagoon, The Snail, Lyrics

Pain, no really for me
Some will suffer far more than I will but then we’ll all be still some day
A snail, I’m a snail on the sea
And so slowly I sink to the deep as I try to remember peace

Lions and tigers and beggars and bears
They all live today and they all will decay
The world and the folk and the things you could see
And I swim in the gloom in a room where I struggle to breathe

Where I struggle to breathe
Where I struggle to breathΠ΅

Streetlights, gold on cold
Like a beacon
In my sort of soul
Grows so old now the cold
Kills my bonΠ΅s
Kills my bones
Kills my bones
Kills my bones
Kills my bones

Graveyards make me calm
I don’t know why
Deepest kind of dreaming
Caribbean coastline
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water
Clear blue water



Ivor Steven (c) August 2025

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ivor20

G'day, and welcome to my blog site. My name is Ivor Steven, I live in Geelong, Australia. I'm an ex-industrial chemist, and a retired plumber, and a former Carer of my wife(Carole), for 30 years, who suffered from severe MS. I Write poetry about those personal thoughts, throughout and beyond my life as a Carer. I've been blogging for over 2 years, and writing poems for 19 years. Of course a lot of my poems are about my favourite subject Carole, but since I've been blogging my writings have become quite varied, humourous, mystical, observational, and even a few monster/horror poems.

28 thoughts on “An Old Snail Shell (a Tank)”

    1. Thank you for your wonderful appreciation of my poem, and your verse triggers my sentimental brain cells … Beluga Lagoon’s is approximately called the snail 🐌 and I liked the lyrics, Nancy πŸŽΆπŸŒπŸ˜πŸ˜ŠπŸŒπŸ“–

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  8. What a wonderful posting in honor of snails! They are such amazing creatures! I’ve always loved watching them. πŸ™‚ 🐌
    Fabulous powerful photos, poem and song, Ivor! πŸ™‚ 🐌
    (((HUGS))) 🀎 🀎 🀎
    PS…I find shades of brown to be so beautiful, peaceful, and a connection with Nature. πŸ™‚

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    1. Yes, metaphorically, I was trying to create that connection between nature and my life’s journey, Carolyn … πŸ˜πŸ“˜πŸ“ƒπŸ’šπŸ€ŽπŸ€ŽπŸΆπŸΆ

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    2. Thank you so much for your thoughtful words, Carolyn …snails are amazing little creatures and I do love writing about them … our snails are in hiding during winter so I had to use an β€œ old snail shell” and from my tItle a poem was born πŸŒπŸ€—πŸ˜πŸŒπŸŽΆπŸΆπŸ“–

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    1. Thank you very much for lovely words, Eugi … I’m really enjoying Beluga Lagoon’s music at the moment, the Scottish folk music sound lyrically fascinating and easy to listen to πŸŽΆπŸ˜πŸ˜ŠπŸ“˜πŸ“–

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