Armadillo

Stranger on earth, related to no one in nature: let me adopt you, be my foster - creature. Not toothless, exactly: differently dentated - with rootless dull blocks, the front ones uncreated. to clear the tongue's way through the gap, sweeping up to sixty, seventy ants at one swipe. Dim eyes, dull ears, waddling gait, small brain. Archaic, grotesque, by the clear standards of man. Sink like a stone in the stream. Hold your breath, amble across. Or fill your lights with air, and buoyant scull the passage. Welcome to my shore! You bring me fresh relief from too familiar kin. Welcome, crossing the gulf!