The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter/The Scallop Shell

by Dora Sigerson Shorter

THE SCALLOP SHELL

A scallop shell, loosed by the lifting tide,
Had left a friendly shore, the seas to brave;
Its lips of pink and snowy hollow shone
Pure in the sun, a pearl upon the wave.

It gleamed and passed—you burdened it with love,
with sweet long futures, new and dreamy days:
And named for me—because I held your hopes.
I bid you hush—not meriting your praise.

I pointed, as your vessel came to shore,
Wrecked where the tiny breakers rose and fell;
And bid your voyagers not put to sea
So frail a craft as this poor scallop shell.