dead before the knife

you don't truly

appreciate

the beauty of the rainbow

trout,

or any other

fish

that silently swims

below the world

of air

and light.

we know it, but don't really

understand

the colors, the fins, the eyes.

the magic

of it's life.

they become stranger

now,

and more beautiful than

you realized,

lying still in our waterless

world.

dead before the knife.