The boat glides forward and makes
a dark stripe in the shallow sand.
The fish looks up at the keel of the boat
and smiles for all he’s worth.
What is that stupid boat thinking?
All my life I’ve seen
that stupid boat coming.
That gigantically stupid boat
that wants to catch me.
I’m sick and tired of him.

A fish smiles
with its tail.
With a couple of smiling flips
he’s gone.
He laughs for a long time
behind a brown rock.

Tr. Roger Greenwald