Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Fish Tale

Once
I bought two goldfish
at a dime store
downtown.
They lived
in a glass bowl
on my dresser...
for a while.
Then,
I set them free.
We lived on Spring Street.
The spring,
in my backyard,
did not bubble.
It seeped...
from underground,
into the pool
of mossy stones
someone built
long before I was born.
The goldfish were tired,
I guessed,
of swimming in dizzy circles.
They needed
fall leaves floating
like little boats
above them,
and lightning bugs
blinking overhead.
They needed
to be serenaded
by a bullfrog quartet.
They needed
to feel ripples caused
by dragonfly wings...
and see raindrops
make dimples
in the water.
I knew this;
so I knelt on the stone wall
and tilted their bowl...
careful, careful...
and they slipped over the lip
into the spring
where they grew
and grew...
twice as long
as the length of my hand.
I visited,
putting my face
near the surface.
Their orange tails
waved lazily.
Freedom
suited them
just fine.


6 comments:

  1. Oh, I was so worried it wouldn't work out for them. So glad they thrived. I used to have goldfish when I was young, but they never lived very long.

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  2. Love the images in this. Yes, if we truly love someone or something, set them free. So glad they thrived in their freedom.

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  3. Really? They didn't die? I loved your reasoning for why they needed to be set free. I marvel at how you can say so much in such short lines/phrases. You have a writing gift to tell a story with beautiful images. Loved this!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Elsie! Those little guys not only lived, they thrived! Someone had built a little stone wall around the spring; and it was all very magical looking... Those fish eventually died; but for a little reader like me, it was very Tuck Everlasting-ish while it lasted.

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  4. That was SO not the ending I anticipated. I LOVE that it was the ending. But, I expected that your child-like wishes would end in disaster as your fish met with some less-than-ideal-for-goldfish environment. I was expecting a heartbroken girl only to discover a wondrous one, gazing at her growing goldfish, enjoying the beauties of the space you eloquently brought to life in this poem.

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  5. That was SO not the ending I anticipated. I LOVE that it was the ending. But, I expected that your child-like wishes would end in disaster as your fish met with some less-than-ideal-for-goldfish environment. I was expecting a heartbroken girl only to discover a wondrous one, gazing at her growing goldfish, enjoying the beauties of the space you eloquently brought to life in this poem.

    ReplyDelete