ONCE upon a splashing time

a little fish wished he could rhyme.

But 'Wish the Fish' lived in the sea

and seemed to bring calamity.

---

Now Wish was just a little fish,

Blue, red, yellow - oh, and greenish.

He loved his mom 'cause she was nice

but sometimes gave too much advice.

Wish thought, so crude, the meals she stewed.

They tasted more like people food.

But mom said, "Eat.  Eat ev'ry bean."

Just eat until your plate is clean."

Now mom's advice to clean his plate

was wrong, Wish thought.  He seldom ate.

(He'd take his fork, scrape off her cookin' -

then hid it when she wasn't lookin').

So no, Wish didn't eat too much

until his hunger pangs were such

he gobbled down his candy bars

and emptied all mom's cookie jars.

The next day, ohhh, the stomach ache!

And then mom offered cream and cake.

Wish turned her down, not once, but twice

and wished he'd taken her advice.

---

The moral of this poem's great,

if everyone would love, not hate:

mom's advice!

©2015 louis gander