Standing at the edge of Howth Pier
where the ocean swallows the eye
looking at someone's
... Life is...
admiring their restraint
and thinking about the Anguilla anguilla
that migrates in mass shoals
about this time of the year
to spawn, lay eggs and die
in the Saragossa Sea
But I'm telling the story backwards
though it is a cyclical one
for after the Caribbean spawn
and with the help of the Gulf Stream
the baby eels shapeshift
from leaf-form to snake
from translucent glass to yellow
to European estuaries
and fresh water lakes
before silvering their way back
in the fullness of time
to Saragossa
and full circle
and closure
to the question
of what
...Life is...
Copyright 2022 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved
