The Salmon

Far though I roam, my fate calls me
ever back to my birthplace.
Through a thousand miles of thankless sea,
I have been swimming for centuries,
or so it feels, frantically searching
for something lost, a lack I couldn’t
name. But now, at last,
my course is set. Singlemindedly
I hold my way, hungering only
for what I remember: a mystery,
almost a dream, but drawing me
urgently onward. Out of the ocean,
up rocky streams, rapids and falls,
I fight and struggle, firm in my goal.
Nothing deters me. Never daunted,
leaping obstacles, lingering nowhere,
I will myself forward. My wanderings will end,
I know. Past this curve, the next, that bend,
I’ll find the land where Life begins,
where holy water washes off my sins,
and though I die there, my death will only be
that last high leap that lifts me to Thee.