Nadó Por Aqui Poem by Chuck Toll

For years an orange shimmer
rippling the dark tank water
with our red slider turtle

Aquired as an interlude
To provide trifling sport
And shortly turtle snack

But survived, grew larger
in gossamer tail, bright hues
and silent piscine gravitas

Our decision to buy a tank
twice the size reflected
needs of turtle and fish alike

Tank filled, we made the move.
turtle and fish appeared content
with their expanded world

Yet in hours the fish was gone.
Now just a shapeless pallid form
motionless at the bottom

None saw or sensed its finale
sobering sudden, unexpected
First there, then not there

Like the neighbor I'd left hale
in his retirement down the street
first there, then not there

Harold is no more, his wife said
when I stopped by to call,
And now neither is the fish

Fish, I bear witness to your sheen
and your grace and your presence
until you were not there