The developers, if they decide to move a tortoise, have to pay the long-term costs for enhancing the areas that take care of the tortoise, and it gives us the opportunity to manage an area that is going to be protected.

quote by Gale Norton
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The Turtle

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.

poem by Ogden Nash
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The two are unrelated. I'm not into turtles or space stuff.

quote by Harry Connick Jr.
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Tortoise Family Connections

On he goes, the little one,
Bud of the universe,
Pediment of life.
Setting off somewhere, apparently.
Whither away, brisk egg?

His mother deposited him on the soil as if he were no more than droppings,
And now he scuffles tinily past her as if she were an old rusty tin.

A mere obstacle,
He veers round the slow great mound of her --
Tortoises always foresee obstacles.

It is no use my saying to him in an emotional voice:
'This is your Mother, she laid you when you were an egg.'

He does not even trouble to answer: 'Woman, what have I to do with thee?'
He wearily looks the other way,
And she even more wearily looks another way still,
Each with the utmost apathy,

[...] Read more

poem by David Herbert Lawrence
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The tortoise stores its wisdom in his shell.

Bantu proverbs
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Sleepy turtles never catch up with the sunrise.

Jamaican proverbs
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Turtle Teachers

TURTLE TEACHERS

Having laid her eggs upon a distant beach,
the turtle hurries quickly to the friendly ocean;
she cannot navigate the land, like those who teach,
producing mirror images for self-promotion.

A turtle may spend no more than an hour on a beach where she lays her eggs and then abandon her eggs, returning to the ocean.

3/30/08

poem by Gershon Hepner
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The fly that bites the tortoise breaks its beak.

Italian proverbs
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The Tortoise (Love Poem)

This girl came to my party,
And petted my tortoise,
In nineteen sixty four,
When I was eight, and
No-one noticed, not even me.

She still complains today
That she missed out on
Her jelly and ice-cream,
When she was seven, and
No one noticed, not even me.

I think when ten years later this
Beautiful blonde said yes, she
Would be mine, and is today, this
Tortoise slow was still around, and
No one noticed, not even me.

I tell our children now grown-up,
That I have found a tortoise is

[...] Read more

poem by Ian Beckett
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In The Sands Of Passion

In the sands of passion
A family of turtles layed their eggs
One by one

poem by Aldo Kraas
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can speed be the key?
slow, steady, in no hurry
the tortoise wins...

haiku by Mamta Agarwal
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A tortoise

the tortoise is just inadequate
she has been treating
the same way everyone
of another kind

a supercilious front
to shroud weaknesses
broadcasting insouciance
with a hard hard shell

she knows she has a birthright
a hard headed advantage
with its shell signed
with letters from heaven
nobody is allowed even to knock on
it, protected species

here she is behaving in ways
that turn people away
without even knowing why

[...] Read more

poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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The Universe As Tortoise

when that old lady says that the universe
is a big tortoise
and under it are a series of turtles
one above the other
swimming in the pond,

well, do not say it is being stupid
no, not at all,

the old lady was simply poetic
she knows that the absurd can only be understood
in metaphors.

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Let Us Be Friendly With Everybody!

Rabbit and Tortoise
Went for a race;

Envy villain rabbit
Threw the stone at Hero Rabbit;

Hero Rabbit's leg got broken,
Limping Rabbit couldn't run fast!

Hero Rabbit lost the match,
This is how Tortoise won the race.

Lesson is, 'Don't have enmity'
Let us be friendly with everybody!

poem by V.K. Kanniappan
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Trusting in wealth is like looking for feathers on turtles.

Senegalese proverbs
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The Usual Story...

and then the problem comes
after the meeting of the
the turtle and the rabbit
after the winning and the losing
to each priority
the rabbit to the bushes
to the river the turtle goes

there is no saying that
after all, the warning is given
personally, the rabbit will
always remember
and so does the turtle
there is no point of reconciliation

the facts of life are here again
nothing to lose nothing to gain.

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The tsetse-fly is perched on the tortoise's back in vain.

Akan proverbs
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A Turtle Named George

There was a little turtle named George
On his food he would always gorge
He popped out of his shell
And said what the hell
And George was a turtle no more!

My feeble attempt at humor!

poem by Donna Nimmo
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Two Little Turtles

I saw them-
two little turtles holding hands
standing heads up above a dark stone;
One was slightly above the other,
clutching his lover's hand.
I went near them and stared as the
one below hid her face from me.
Sweet as they seem, I wondered
if ever they, in their graceful moves
feel the heat of the passion built.
The passion of touching one another-
of just even being close to each other.
I wish you'd see them too...
two little turtles holding hands.
I looked up at the sky waving at me
as though he saw the loneliness in my eyes.
And then i wondered where you are
and when can i hold your hand,
or when can i just be with you;
when can we be together

[...] Read more

poem by Jessel Jane Tevar
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Alankar(Decor) -69

Their Race Yet Not Over(Kyrielle Poem)

a narrative, it tells a story.
stanzaic, in quatrains.
syllabic, each line is 8 syllables. in iambic tetrameter.
written with a refrain in the 4th line of the quatrain.
rhyme scheme may vary. Quatrain options abaB, cbcB, dbdB

Their race yet not over with that
Else way tortoise as thought to race
To run, to swim in halves, to work-
Agreed the hare willing to race

Starting speeded with hare on land
Plodding slowed with tortoise to race
To help the river came on hand
Swam fast tortoise won first the race

Knowing not to swim the hare lost
Foolish was his challenge to race

[...] Read more

poem by Indira Renganathan
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