salmon: a poem

Photo by Brandon on Unsplash

if only i were a salmon, it would
be so easy to swim upstream

when i smelled the scent of the familiar
freshwater of my birthplace, i would leap
over the current, flashing in the sun
like a skin of silver diamonds,
splashing up, up, away from the salty waters
and back to my beginnings. (yes,
it would be to go spawning, but let’s
ignore that for the poetry here,
all right?)

alas, i am a human
and not a salmon;

when the currents pull me towards the ocean,
it is so hard to push against them,
gritting my teeth once more as
the rivers i strain towards seem yet further away.