Salmon leap

The sound was deafening,
they perched on a wooden gantry
on the side of the gorge and
watched the furious torrent of water
thundering down thirty feet or more
into a roiling cauldron of peat coloured spume.

Without warning, a magnificent fish,
as long as he was tall, leapt up, out of the foam
and through the air in a beautiful arc
before plunging into the water again,
an exquisite, powerful creature, in her element
and blessed with a single purpose.

The little boy, terrified and awe stricken
in equal measure, held his dad’s hand tightly,
not just because he was afraid of falling into the water,
but because he so wanted to.

27-6-11

fromagreenhill.com