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Home Waters

Quotation body.

My friends and fellow travelers, a story I will tell.
I shall not long detain you, for it's one that you know well,
But raise a glass and cry "alas!" to echo your dismay
At the fate of sockeye salmon and the ones who lose their way.

'Twas a chill September morning, in a year not long ago,
Out on the great Pacific near the mighty Frazer's flow,
A sockeye drawn at last to spawn through harbour waters plies,
His heart on his home waters, there to mate before he dies.

Passing from the salty sea he climbs the river clean,
And as he tastes the fresh his silver scales turn jealous green.
With ever greater vigor up the Frazer's ditch he flies,
His heart on his home waters, there to mate before he dies.

It's raining on the river as he battles up Hell's Gate.
With fury beats his spiny tail for fear that he'll be late.
He only hears his own heart race—the mud has left him blind
To the struggles of his cousin who has come up from behind.

It's the crunch of teeth on tail that alerts him to his plight.
Enraged, but crippled by the blow, he stiffly turns to fight.
Without a pause, he snaps his jaws, but no opponent spies,
His heart on his home waters, there to mate before he dies.

He cannot breast the current with his tail injured so.
Seaward drifts the sockeye tom all captive to the flow,
Yet, facing still back up the hill, his sad fate he defies,
His heart on his home waters, there to mate before he dies.

Now thank you for your patience, my story's at its end.
Here's wishing you all happiness, and health, and wealth, and friends—
But, should you face misfortune, let Tom Sockeye be your guide,
His heart on his home waters, there to mate before he died.

Copyright 1999 Edward K. McGuire

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