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.

---

One day mom said, "Now do your chores.

I've done all mine.  Now you do yours.

Go make your bed, then get your broom

and sweep the seashells from your room."

Well, this made Wish the Fish quite sad.

He wondered if his friends all had.

And then he thought, "Hmm, could I take

a little swim, a little break?"

So careful not to stir the sand,

Wish swam right out his window and

off to his friend's, he took a look,

then saw a juicy worm on hook...

It dangled down in front of him.

It seemed so small and awfully slim.

But Wish was hungry.  He would eat

and took a bite which was so sweet...

But oh, the yank that pulled him out!

The hook had hurt!  Wish tried to shout.

"What happened here?" himself, he asked.

It all had happened very fast.

Wish flopped around there on the sand

before he knew what happened and

his gills were hurting from the air.

Wish flopped some more.  Did no one care?

And there he lay to his dismay.

Wish wished he hadn't swam away.

Oh, how he wished he had obeyed -

so on the sand, at last, he prayed...

Now Wish the Fish, could not be found.

His mom had searched and searched.  She frowned.

She was perplexed.  She was afraid.

And then, at last, she also prayed...

Oh, Wish the Fish would soon be dead

if hadn't been for this instead:

He heard a lower bass voice call,

"Just throw it back!  It's way too small!"

No longer bound by ugly sin,

our Wish the Fish could swim again!

He swam straight home - despite so weak -

hugged tight his mom and kissed her cheek.

---

The moral of this poem's great,

if everyone would love, not hate

their chores!

©2015 louis gander