Jubilate Deo: The Trout

CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE Jubilate Deo: The Trout Behold the trout in his dark waters The secret ways he goes that smite the heart In the rapids' rush he lurks and flashes Where the water bellies he drifts and fins Where the cut bank sucks, there sucks he Lord of the roots and greasy stones Seemly among weeds that bend like dreams He meditates and thrusts his snout Like a shadow lost and seen Secret, he takes his dappled ease He is wise He will not come Into the otter's muddy den. Behold the trout in his frisks and gambols His cakewalks when his heart is high Making still waters well and break Flashing his bronze side, vermilion starred and blue Like ancient armor gashed, to bite the dace Like lightning from a cloudless sky He strikes the mayfly in her dainty hatching A tiptoe on his tail he snaps the hissing dragonfly And falls back in To rise again An arc of fire against the sun He eats his young Except the crook-winged osprey eat them first. Behold the trout when you have caught him Pierced his tongue and led him to you on a little cord And laid him starry in your net To ascertain his length and weight Blood flares in his gills Darkness gathers on his back 223 224 CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE He does not look at you But sets his gaze on something somewhere else As if he knows that both are good Catching and being caught He shudders when you knock him on the head And bites the air before he dies He is wise Those are pearls that were his eyes Flesh falls from his bones like petals from a rose. DAIN A. TRAFTON ...