Northern Pike

by James Wright
     All right. Try this，
     Then. Every body
     I know and care for，
     And every body
     Else is going
     To die in a loneliness
     I can't imagine and a pain
     I don't know. We had
     To go on living. We
     Untangled the net， we slit
     The body of this fish
     Open from the hinge of the tail
     To a place beneath the chin
     I wish I could sing of.
     I would just as soon we let
     The living go on living.
     An old poet whom we believe in
     Said the same thing， and so
     We paused among the dark cattails and prayed
     For the muskrats，
     For the ripples below their tails，
     For the little movements that we knew the crawdads were making under water，
     For the right-hand wrist of my cousin who is a policeman.
     We prayed for the game warden's blindness.
     We prayed for the road home.
     We ate the fish.
     There must be something very beautiful in my body，
     I am so happy