Rescued fish became my Good Samaritan

A losing streak, a life destroyed, In debt, no friends, now unemployed, Distressed, confused, about to break, I chanced upon a nearby lake. With fingers burnt and future bleak, With ego bruised and spirit weak, A wrecking ball inside my head, What I proposed . . . best left unsaid! I teetered on the muddy bank, The water looked so dark and dank. My mind resigned, my thoughts a mess, So low I felt, I must confess. But then I saw a fish in trouble, Caught between the reeds and rubble. I cleared his path and set him free, Then I compared that fish to me. A thought occurred, a tiny light, I clung to it with all my might. This needn’t be the soggy end, If rescued like my scaly friend. He must have thought his days were numbered, So exhausted, quite encumbered. His lousy luck changed, so can mine. I gladly took it as a sign. Because, amid this crippling strife I saw the value in his life. Quite small and pointless, one might think, But yet I wouldn’t let him sink. I, too, could use help from above, An act of life-affirming love, Some greater power might descend — A long shot though, let’s not pretend. A second thought, this time quite weird, My saviour had indeed appeared. No angel from the clear blue sky But lower down and much less dry. This Good Samaritan had fins. A whole new chapter now begins. But first to solve the mystery: Did I save him? Did he save me? gordon A. Hobbs, Hornchurch, Essex.