Loneliness is a Fish

I did nor know
that fish deprived of oxygen
and now aghast upon the land
because they were outside their watered berth
was something that should ere be seen
as symbolizing loneliness (or rapt desire
for words of grace)
especially if this here image was intended
to be taken as an apt, instructive simile
that made it clear just what
your loneliness was like.

For what a landed writhing fish
most wishes for
is not relief from loneliness
or any sating of its soul
by love
or the stopping of a stomach rumbling that
no fish has ever had.
The water is its goal and what it wants
is all the oxygen (not air)
that water bears.

Remember too that Peter, when
with Jesus on the shore in Galilee
did cook upon a fire the fish they caught
despite the fishes’ felt desire
when still alive
to be back in a watered mire.