Catch and Release

Finning, gliding silently
Over pebbles, 'neath a tree
Seeking minnows, worms, insects
Holes where rocks the flow bisects

Brightly spotted sides of brown
The slightest sound will put him down
Lurking, hunting as he goes
Still he must beware his foes

The eagle, heron and the fox
Weasel, coon and man who stalks
About his world with hook and fur
Feathers, tinsel, line a blur

Man shoots the line and sees it rest
Above the square-tail in his nest
Among the currents, rocks and foam
Safe in his riparian home

Sees an insect, hunger sounds
Like a bell, upward he bounds
Grabs the insect from the flow
Closes maw and turns to go

Panic now besets the fish
Flee this place his fondest wish
Hindered by an unseen force
He turns and there beholds the source

Man has tricked him, he must run
Deeper, away from the sun
Under logs or behind rocks
Far from where the man now stalks

Muscles now begin to ache
He wishes to regain the lake
In deeper water he could hide
Rest himself, restore his pride

Now he's in man's mighty grip
The pain has left his lower lip
He scarcely can believe his fins
Man picked him out and then back in

He swims and ponders on this thing
Why man would cause the line to sing
And wrest him from his river home
Just to leave the stream alone