head you upstream
so current heals your gills
and I will watch
you rest
revive and flip
your foolish fins
and swim off free.
And I will tell
them how I had you here
on this green
riverbank
how strong you
are
and what a fight
we had to pull you in.
And I will let
you go
remembering some
accident gave me the hook
and you the urge
to take it.
(But I cannot
tell all:
your body is a
soft tongue
and your silver
muscles arrogantly swim the air
while I unstick this
barbless hook.)
Swim far and deep
where it is calm
and sink to the
bottom of a clear pool.
Other hooks have
barbs
and other fishers
take more
trophies home than words
or images of
sunlight
tossed among the
ripples on your back.
(So too fish let
me go.
We catch as best
we can
keep best what
lets us be.)