Aquarium Fish

MOULD-COLOURED like the leaf long fallen from

The autumn branch, he rises now, the Fish.

The cold eyes of the gannets see their rock:

He has No-whither. Who was it marked

Earth from the waters? Who

Divided space into such lines for us,

Giving men To and Fro, not Up and Down?

This dweller in the ancient element

Knows Space's cross-road. Who

Closed up the Depth to us? He rises now

Mould-coloured like the leaf long fallen from

The autumn branch, with eyes that are like lamps

Magicians fill with oils from dead men ta'en,

Most rootless of all beings, the Fish.