Soft

In harmony with the rule of irony— which requires that we harbor the enemy on this side of the barricade—the shell of the unborn eagle or pelican, which is made to give protection till the great beaks can harden, is the first thing to take up poison. The mineral case is soft and gibbous as the moon in a lake—an elastic, rubbery, nightmare water that won't break. Elsewhere, also, I see the mockeries of struggle, a softness over people.