I apologize for this not being an elegy...but it IS about a golden fish.
"To His Coi Mistress"
Had we but pond enough and slime
Your virtue, dear, would be no crime.
I wouldn’t have to whine and harp
Of being but a lowly carp,
While you're above the hoy polloi,
Since being born a golden coi.
No, we would skim along the mud
As our kind did before the Flood.
My patience, then, would not abate,
Or pressure you, my love, to mate.
A thousand summers would have gone
‘Ere once I made a move to spawn.
A thousand springs, indeed, would go
Before I tried to seed your roe.
But at my dorsal side I hear
Time’s trolling motor humming near
And soon, before us, as we look
Are endless nets , and countless hooks.
Then, baiting worms will be to try
Our long-preserved virginity.
Thus we, whose loins never abutted,
Would sadly rue it, as we’re gutted.
And think of how you would regret it,
To have your maiden beauty breaded.
So, now, then, while thy golden form
Has made my ardent zeal to warm,
Secrete thine eggs into the mire
To kindle my erotic fire.
And I, excited, will in turn
Add clouds of my aquatic sperm.
And here, then, in our tidal chasm,
We’ll shudder in a fervent spasm.
Then if we can’t make Time stand by
Our joy, by God, will make it fly!
[This message has been edited by Lightning Bug (edited July 17, 2003).]
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