A Salmon's Tale

Two brothers salmon in the deep blue sea Got the urge one day to seek some revelry. So off they both went into the early dawn With naught on their minds but to swim and spawn. Up the big river with its mouth so wide, It must be a mile from side to side. For days and days those two fish swam ‘Til they ran smack-dab into a concrete dam! Round and round that great grey wall They swam, but found no help at all. Relief came, not from heaven sent, But sure enough from the government! A big fish ladder with its lifts and falls Helped those boys to skirt that wall Into a lake with its shores so green The two fish entered on another scene! As if decreed by constabulary The lake was fed by five tributaries! “Which one to take?”, was their question then, The answer came to the first brother Sven. “I know where to go”, you could hear him say, “I’ve been here before! I can find the way!” So off Sven went, and his brother, Pete, too; Guided by nothing but Deja Vu! The stream they chose was swift and clean But the rocks therein were hard and mean! Bruised and battered Ol’ Pete said, “ENOUGH!” “This swim-and-spawn life is just too rough!” “Swimming all day against the stream?” “This might be for you Sven, but it ain’t my dream!” So he turned with the current and went with the flow, Against his true nature, to the blue sea below. He passed other salmon, in their eyes was a gleam, All turning red as they struggled upstream. Pete was red too from his tail to his face. When he reached the blue sea, he seemed out of place. The swimming was easy, with no current to fight, But Pete couldn’t know of his fate nor his plight. A flashy red Pete in the bright blue dawn A sea lion spied him and SNAP! Pete was gone! In the mean time, Sven kept on swimming for days; His back out of water in the warm summer rays. He made his way to a cool sandy brook And spied a coy babe-fish with a cute little look. And there on the edge of a loose gravel shoal, They frolicked and played and fulfilled their role: They had both done their best; standing out in a crowd. Sven also died, but his maker is proud! This tale has a moral, as all good tales do. A metaphor of life, it is tried and true: “Swimming through life is no simple feat, Endure to the end, or end up like Pete!”