Northern Pike

    All right. Try this，

    Then. Every body

    I know and care for，

    And every body

    Else is going

    To die in a loneliness

    I can't imagine and a pain

    I don't know. We had

    To go on living. We

    Untangled the net， we slit¹

    The body of this fish

    Open from the hinge² of the tail

    To a place beneath the chin

    I wish I could sing of.

    I would just as soon we let

    The living go on living.

    An old poet whom we believe in

    Said the same thing， and so

    We paused among the dark cattails and prayed

    For the muskrats³，

    For the ripples⁴ below their tails，

    For the little movements that we knew the crawdads were making under water，

    For the right-hand wrist of my cousin who is a policeman.

    We prayed for the game warden's blindness.

    We prayed for the road home.

    We ate the fish.

    There must be something very beautiful in my body，

    I am so happy