A Fisherman's Prayer Poem by Barry Middleton

I feel I've been out fishing fifty years
and just as leave would call it quits for now
and throw the whole catch back for other men
to cast their lines upon and dream their dreams.

I searched across the waters far from home
and tried to calculate what waits for me
before the liquid future takes me in,
the stream of life that sweeps me to the tomb.

And I would pull my anchor for one wish
and free the living and the dead alike
if I could catch what hides behind a bend,
what might well be as fishermen pretend.