Ode to a Trout

 

You slippery rascal, striped and sleek,

With mischief dancing in your cheek

You dart, you dash, you double back,

Then vanish down a liquid track.

 

You laugh at hooks, you dodge the flies,

You tease the heron’s hungry eyes.

A shimmer, then you’re gone again

A joke the river tells to men.

 

O freckled prankster, born to flit,

The stream’s own jester, quick and lit

May you forever flip and flee,

The wildest fish that mocks the sea.