BRASS NAUTILUS

 by shaun lawton

One single leaf
concealed among
 the spread pages
of its family
 somehow avoids
each of our
 placid stares
as we stroll by
 to our oblique
destinations

 (the question
remains unasked
 to this day by
a populace too
 busy to know
what's real)

 toward the secret 

(there is no leaf) 

 lost again when
the last finger
 nail latch gets lifted
from the lock on
 our root cellar
door down here
 in this dark quiet
musty realm
 the light of day
never once licks
 but instead must
visit in the form
 of a hidden egg
cracked into song