1128

To a dying fish

How did you survive so many weeks

When all of us could see that you were dying?

Grazing at the bottom of the tank

Ignored by fitter friends, you kept on trying,

Even though you could not really swim,

And spiralled round the plants in search of food.

Day after day you stayed alive until

You hardly moved more than your eyes and could

Seem dead, save for a sudden twitch of fin

Or shudder in your thinning humped back spine.

Then I was forced to wonder if the pain

You seemed to suffer was anything like mine.

            I killed you quickly, then flushed you away;

            Buried at sea - but still alive today.

Brian Hick March 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 29.2.24