Cichlids
It is not how we pictured it.
We had wanted peace.
These fish have everything they need
in the aquarium we have arranged for them.
So why do they fight?
The two biggest have split the space
and now they spar
on the invisible border drawn in the sand.
See how they bloat, swell gill and fin,
pump water in and out of mouths
when they meet mid-water.
Evidently if they did not the other
would drive them into a corner.
So they don't give an inch
even though they have already
whatever they could wish.
Their frontiers are well defended.
We watch them dance with threat
and posture and counter-stance
and think ourselves different,
other beings entirely,
and the tall ones on television who stare
through the glass with the evening news
know themselves different in turn,
assure us they would never do such a thing.
Colin
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