Whatever We Lose

The writing you can see in the wings of this cormorant reads "Whatever we lose, (like a you, or a me), it's always our self we find in the sea".

It is a quote from the following poem by E. E. Cummings

'Maggie and Milly and Molly and May'

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always our self we find in the sea