Oh, Glubs [1993-2010]

Oh, Glubs [1993-2010]

LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF A GOLDFISH

 

I forget how many companions

You saw off.

Was it just one?

I seem to think more…

At least two, maybe three.

Or is that me

Constructing for you

A determination to be

The one and only?

 

I was never often

Directly your carer and provider.

Just on those rare times,

Left alone in the house with you,

I had to feed you,

Switch on your tank light,

Switch it off,

Watch your lithe

Orange-bodied movements,

As you played a dance

With that nightly pinch

Of food confetti.

 

But that does not diminish

The love I had for you

Or make me feel less wretched

That you are gone.

 

Burying you in the garden,

I couldn’t help but think

Of your very first arrival

In this house,

So newly ours,

You so newly hers,

Who had wanted you so long

And been promised,

‘When we move, when we move…’

 

We moved.

We kept our promise.

Since when you have been

Such a significant household member

It will take a long time

To register you are gone.

 

And I never did get

A decent photo of you!

 

© Michael Thorn

 

Done