Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FISH OF THE GODS, by RALPH LINTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FISH OF THE GODS, by                    
First Line: Fish of the gods! The gods who called for blood
Last Line: Perhaps the sportsmen throw us in again.
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; God; Hunting; Irony; Anglers; Hunters


Fish of the Gods! The Gods who called for blood
Through the priest's mouth. Men trembled as he stood
Muttering with foam-flecked lips, until he gave
The name of someone, common man or slave,
Marked for the sacrifice. Then with a shout
They seized the man and killed him, bore him out
To the marae, and hung him from a tree,
A great hook in his mouth, that all might see
Men were the fish of Gods. Through the green gloom
His soul rose wavering to a second doom,
For the Great Ones who stood above the sea
Devoured it, and he passed utterly.
Fish of the Gods, the patient Gods, who go
Through the world's waters, fishing to and fro
With shrewdly baited hooks. Is it some need
That spurs them on to fishing? Do they feed
Upon men's souls, as men thought long ago,
Or do they fish for sport? We only know
Their craft is infinite. Their weirs are set
In all life's tideways, and their landing-net
Meshes us all at last. No hidden cave
In the dim reef, no strength or speed, can save
Men from their creels. And what may happen then?
Perhaps the sportsmen throw us in again.





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