Or Not To Be? (For Lyn) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Rain hits the lake
again & again.

One can almost hear
the lake cry:

“Ow! Ow! Ow! ”

A fish almost tame
or unafraid

(probably guesses
I’m vegetarian)

looks at me
and wonders:

“What would it be like
to b e
human?

“Standing there in the air
giving thoughts to the rain and lake and me?

I too, wondering
what it would be like
to be
a fish?

Calm: at home
in water with rain
falling upon it

trying to comprehend
the mystery

of being


other


than I


am.



My mind
flicks its tail

and in a flash
is gone

where I
cannot

...follow.