The old sturgeon held his fishing pole
Sitting well away from the busy shoal
Right on the pond's mossy bed.
He swung it once, swung with might,
And through murky water the line sped
Out into the morning light.
My eye caught a glimpse
Of the twinkling hook there,
Floating motionless in the air,
The juicy bait a dazzling promise
Of far juicer morsels beyond
Hidden in the wondrous pond.
Oh yes, I thought,
Here my one chance to gain entry
Into the marvelous Land of Plenty.
I couldn´t help but lunge and bite
With most ravenous appetite
For no earthly food
Ever seemed so good.
The old sturgeon, overcome with bliss
And dancing on his tail-fin,
Soon had reeled me in
And then watched me bemused
Wriggling by his boots.
I gasped for air once, twice,
Gasped many times,
And though slightly discomforted
By the taste of the water whooshing in fast
I was glad to see that, indeed, at long last,
I had joined the fat gentry
In the marvelous Land of Plenty.
i paused to puzzle over the first stanza. i have not read further/farther....yet. not father! i was trying to figure out why the line was speeding through the WATER, as no mention had yet been made of a fish taking the bait and running with it. THEN i recalled 'who' was holding the pole! time to read on and see if the poem stays interesting; i bet it will. Here my one chance to gain entry.............may i suggest: 's? guess where. And then watched me bemused Wriggling by his boots.........................which is bemused? i think switching the word order might help to clarify the situation. then again, if it is left as is, the reader can decide for her/himself! i guess, if the one on the hook is gasping for air, it is NOT the one on the hook who is bemused. the topic: deception. could it be that the one on the hook was also 'on drugs' and had been hallucinating about life in the pond, thinking it preferable to life out of the pond? i think literally rather than symbolically usually. a bit of a mind teaser, the poem. but my mind is easily teased! unique story. to MyPoemList. bri ;)
Yes, a very fine and interesting allegory. The catcher caught. How many land in the rich guy's pocket! Yet count themselves blessed. It radiates well, Rod. A very good effort.
DearTom, your comment hit it dead on the head (the proverbial nail) . Thanks for your appreciation! ... Rod
A descriptive adventure of fishing...which could be as well an allegory.
Allegory indeed. Though you can always read it in a more literally-minded way: fish trying to even the score with human! Either way is OK, though I meant it in allegorical terms. Thanks for commenting.... Rod
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
a poem that includes a tasty bit of bait but could this be man's eventual fate? which is not to live in the land of plenty cos it has all gone to the fat Gentry! ...............well written.
Hi Tom. Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you liked this one. Yeah, it can be read on various levels: someone thought it was a nice poem about fishing and that's perfectly alright. Your own take it's quite interesting too, and bottom line is: it's great for a poet to have immediate feedback from the reader (something that was not as easily done in Byron or Shelley's time for sure!) because that can enrich the poet's point of view, as in a two-way feedback loop Thanks again.