The fish in the pond

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Lifeetc

Friday, 03 February 2012

Author / Source : Hasib Reza

Possessions, Power, Desire, and Bereft – are all words (along with every other word) unknown to the fish swimming in the pond. In the pond, the waters are murky, and they run deep. Every morning, the fish would wake up to witness the brand new day. But, of course – the fish has no mornings, no afternoons, evenings, or nights for that matter. Simply a vast undulating stretch of pale blue, carrying all in itself – round and round the depths. Every so often, the placidity of the pond would be hindered by the light ripples of the wafting leaf fallen from the sky. The surface casting long shadows into the depths against the refracting rays of sunlight. And, the fish in the pond would meditate for a while, only before resigning to his languid contours. It is difficult to imagine if it would ever think to look up; and look at the fallen leaf against the shimmering blue backdrop. The fish in the pond does not have a neck to prop its head upwards. Not that it ever wishes that it did.
In its winding life in the pond, the fish would often come across other fishes, big, small, round or tall. The fish would see them, all, in their trancelike and unhindered motion – gazing at each other till they disappear into the murky oblivion. The fish cannot imagine if any of them ever would behave any differently. Perhaps grow a pair of wings and fly off! Such things would never happen, and the fish can hardly even begin to imagine such anomalies, much less know how to react. The fish in the pond does not react, or act. It simply continues, persists, and moves its tiny little dorsal fins forward into the vacuous infinity. 
The fish in the pond with its large stolid eyes, is in a perpetual state of content. Of course it is never sad, because it has never been happy. It is satisfied. A numb sensation of the depths caressing as it flows past its body.  The calculated wisps of release from the gills provide what is a state of catch and release - keep the fish indefinitely calm.
The fish in the pond continues, forever.