Eat or Be Eaten - Dec8 2022

 

Eat or Be Eaten

Dec 8 2022

Ice fishers

crowd around the hole.

They look shapeless

in their bulky outdoor gear;

clumpy boots

and toques jammed over their ears,

snowmobile suits

and big clumsy mitts.

Lines dangle loosely

in the still black water.

The low sun

glints brightly off the snow,

but hardly enough to warm

the cold clear air.

The fishermen,

who are well-practiced at hope

and inured to disappointment,

will catch nothing today.

A line or two stiffened

but it was just a false alarm,

a few lucky fish

slipped the hook,

and some small fry

that weren't worth bothering with.

But the beer stayed cold

the laughs were good

and no extremities froze.

So all-in-all, no regrets.

And a good lesson

In a time when hope is scarce

and disappointment rife,

when we do less and less together

and the sniping gets worse.

Cold is good for us.

It purifies.

Cools the temper.

Reduces one

to survival mode;

no time

for pettiness and nonsense

and foolish vendetta.

The hole froze over

overnight.

And the fish, left alone

went about their business

in the darkness below,

oblivious

to the blizzards and storms

raging above.

What fish have always done,

either eating smaller fish

or eaten by the large.

Because there's no winter rest

for fish;

even if everything goes slower

as oxygen levels fall

and the mercury drops.

It's still eat or be eaten

all year long.