Weekly Reading

Song For the Salmon
For too many days now I have not written of the sea,

nor the rivers, nor the shifting currents

we find between the islands
For too many nights now I have not imagined the salmon

threading the dark streams of reflected stars,

nor have I dreamt of his longing

nor the lithe swing of his tail toward dawn
I have not given myself to the depth to which he goes,

to the cargoes of crystal water, cold with salt,

nor the enormous plains of ocean swaying beneath the moon.
I have not felt the lifted arms of the ocean

opening its white hands on the seashore,

nor the salted wind, whole and healthy

filling the chest with living air.
I have not heard those waves

fallen out of heaven onto earth,

nor the tumult of sound and the satisfaction

of a thousand miles of ocean

giving up its strength on the sand.
But now I have spoken of that great sea,

the ocean of longing shifts through me,

the blessed inner star of navigation

moves in the dark sky above

and I am ready like the young salmon

to leave his river, blessed with hunger

for a great journey on the drawing tide.
-David Whyte