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
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem