Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow

I wonder what they mean when they say
that only dead fish go with the flow.
I have seen the salmon swim upstream,
but they are alive, that much I know.

I am told that it is a famous quote
by none other than Malcolm Muggeridge.
It doesn’t make much sense to me
like the others that are stuck on my fridge.

Perhaps it has nothing to do with fish
and it has some obscure significance.
Something clever, way above my head,
that exposes the extent of my ignorance.

I am the first to admit to being naïve
and not ashamed to reveal my inability
in seeing that this is an aquatic aphorism
warning us of the perils of conformity.

© Luigi Pagano 2007