STORIES

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Salmon Reflections

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Community: Fraser Valley

“But you never catch anything”
We would say
Anxious to keep moving,
Restless to do something else.

of course
we would always eat your catch
and love it
and love you for catching it

but what I didn’t know then
was that for you,
it wasn’t really about the catch

it was about glassy ocean mornings
and the butterflies of anticipation
that one fish might pick your carefully chosen
lure to bite

it was about those artful creations
you called flies
(I thought they deserved a more beautiful name)
and the meditative rhythm of the line
as it fell on gently rushing water

it was about boyhood memories
exploring and adventure
time spent with your family
the peaceful silence of patient determination

it was about spending time with
the Seymour river
the birds and the trees
watching them move and grow
like the spruce sapling
you planted when I was little

(of course it was also about the gadgets
the rods and Daiwa reels
your special vest
the shiny pink irresistible tackle,
and the cold afternoon beers)

but something tells me
you would have enjoyed it just as much
with a home-made rod

it was the being that mattered
the watching, and the listening

this is why—at fifty-six—you watched
the merganzers so closely
I can’t forget your wonder
at watching them live and learn and grow

You were wishing for a time
when you could watch and listen more
maybe even teach your grandchildren
some of your old fishing tricks

but instead, you had become the catch
toxic cells navigated your body’s oceans, rivers
and smallest tributaries
unsustainable yields
no moratorium here

but the wild within you
could not be tamed
by cancer

this you knew

flashing silver salmon
entered your rivers
bodies merged
skin and flesh and cells transformed

so this is why I see your reflection
in glassy oceans and gently moving water
in small spruce trees and common merganzers
and most of all in glinting salmon

whose wild wisdom
in celebration
carries you home.