The Bottomless Pond
by Alan Morrison
Sat with grandma in a sanctuary of cushions
wondering why my mother was resting
upstairs for so long during the day…
we were watching the Beatrix Potter ballet
of Jeremy Fisher pirouetting on tiptoes
and satin suit and leggings outside
his pond-house, preparing his best fishing rod
for an afternoon's calm angling—
But why, I thought, did he tempt fate
by dancing from lily pad to lily pad
as if they were mere green stepping stones when
each precarious leap dipped and darkened them
in spite of Fisher's fleet feet?
I pulled a cushion over my eyes
as the bend of his rod arched into full bow
tugging at a bubbling invisible catch
ominously heavy, almost pulling
him into the water deep down dark with it
as the rain began to pelt on the pond
and on the rocking lily pads…
I asked grandma Where's mummy?
She said fustily She's just resting,
you mustn't disturb her, she's needs her rest—
watch the dancing frog—and I did,
though trembling with the formless fear
of what dark scale that catch was at
the end of Jeremy Fisher's line…
and the rod bowed and bowed
almost dragging Fisher in
to the deep dark rain-pelted, pad-rocked pond…
—Can I see mummy?
—No, she is resting
—When can I see her?
—You mustn't disturb her
—When will she get up?
—Look at Mr Fisher!
But I dreaded looking, I'd seen it before:
the stain of trepidation hadn't
been rinsed, was about to be revisited
—painfully repeated—its familiar pattern
tormenting me before it re-happened…
Then the terrible visitation in
the balletic frog's calm afternoon
as a giant hideous fish splashed out
from the dark rain-pelted, pad-rocked pond—
and Jeremy Fisher went skipping away
in fright, never again to go fishing
for now he'd only be able to see
that monstrous leviathan lurking in
those grim limpid depths, always threatening
to splash back out and in again
to what now seemed a bottomless deep
and no more an innocuous pond…
—How long is mummy resting for?
—You mustn't disturb her…
…Jeremy Fisher
had learned to heed the ominous rocking
of lily pads on the bottomless pond.
volume 11(6)
This poem is copyright © 2007, Alan Morrison, all rights reserved.
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