A BOYS DREAM OF FISH

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A BOYS DREAM OF FISH

This poem was composed while contemplating three small red fish anciently set upon a canyon wall above a stream where the Anasazi once lived.

As a boy,
I dreamt of fish.

While I slept
Rainbows, browns and brookies swam
In deep swirling pools
Beneath grassy banks
In the stream
In the meadow
By my mountain home.

In the morning,
Mists still curling over dreamt of pools,
I pursued them
A wild, sun-browned boy
Made pure again
By long golden summer days.

I pulled them out of their finny lairs
The sparkled treasure of life and glittering stars
Caught in my hands.

I brought my catch home
For mothers' praise
Who on occasion would know the sacredness of those moments
And take a picture
Of me, the fish, and my dancing dog.

So, you see, I know
The forgotten boy we dimly glimpse
Slipping through sun flecked willows
Deep within this hidden canyon
Seeking the fish of his dreams.

I see him bring his catch here
To his mother
Beneath this ancient sheltering ledge,
And she, dipping reed
In a pot of red earth and crushed berries
Strokes three fish on the rock overhead
Hoping we would remember
Always
The fish that swim deeply
In boys' dreams.