Big Fish, Little Fish, Swimming in the Water

Take a day in which you spoke
To no one beyond hello
To a stranger here or there.

Depending on who you are,
This could have been a triumph.
This could have been disaster.

A whole day alone is hard
To find, if you’re free to move,
Not confined to some small space.

Let’s say you started out small,
A fish in your plastic bowl.
Not fun, but you learned something.

Now you’ve been dumped in a pond
Twenty thousand times as large,
And larger, linking to streams.

You’re a giant goldfish now,
After a few years of this,
Big as a carp or catfish.

Now you crave being alone,
And in still bays of your pond
You sometimes wonder whether,

If your mind grew big enough,
Would your thoughts feel caught again,
Or would they feel snug at home?