Fish Tales

Fish Tales

Oh fish that tease our lines, you who swim
Through every rippled corridor we cast,
We’ll hook your greedy gullet, once again-
Your freedom we will spurn and end this fast

And will you resist and fight to the last?
Along the banks are mossy walls where dim
The beauty that all dying might outlast
Oh fish that tease our lines, you who swim

And we mistake your life surreal, a whim
Of what we feel, or how the time is past
With rod and reel extended from our limb
Through every rippled corridor we cast.

We do not know what lies beyond the mast
And wish our hook sets to be on the rim
But whether they be substantial or hold fast
We’ll hook your greedy gullet once again.

And sometimes when in thought, deep within
The natural world, we hear voices of the past –
Urging us without the guilt of sin
To spurn your freedom and end this fast.

To recount old fish tales again and again,
Each behemoth grander than the last-
Ginormous creatures with gargantuan fins
Jumping like dolphins with every long cast
Oh fish that tease our lines!