the song of the fisherman

Amb quins altres sentits me'l fareu veure
aquest cel blau damunt de les muntanyes,
i el mar immens, i el sol que pertot brilla?
Deu-me en aquests sentits l'etema pau
i no voldre mes cel aquest cel blau.
----M.

Once upon a time there was a little fish who liked to swim by the side of the big fish. She even liked it when the big fish was silent, in one of his quiet moods, just contemplating Very Serious Things. Well, one day the little fish asked the big one,

You know, they say there's a vast and endless deep blue sea around here somewhere. That's what they say.

Well, what of it?

Oh, nothing in particular, she replied. Er...I was just wondering if you've seen it and if so whether you wouldn't mind telling me how to get there ?

Well, you ask too many questions little one. But, since you're a friendly little fish and a good companion in these murky waters I might as well tell you this: there is such a place, an infinite sea, but one has to be out of it before one can see it.

Oh, I see, said the little fish, somewhat disappointed since she had always set great store in knowing things. Now, she thought to herself, I shall never know this great and wondrous sea. But since she had a restless nature she continued:

Wouldn't one die like that?

That is true, my friend. But once you pass through beyond death it isn't so bad.

The little fish now thought that big fish was really quite silly after all-and he wasn't that big either! He was speaking of things he hadn't seen, speaking without thinking, as he often did.

So, where is this place, 'beyond death'?

Oh, they say it's a place around here somewhere. That's what they say.

The small fish was infuriated by big fish's general stupidity and his evasiveness. She could never catch him out. So, she swam away when he was lost in his own thoughts, delivering one of his sermons on the General State of the World Without Crows.

Then, as she swam faster and faster, she suddenly felt lighter and could see that the water had become the clearest, the most bluest and tranquil that one could ever imagine. Except, there was no-one around as far as they eye could see. Then she wondered to herself, was I really only dreaming when I was talking to big fish or is this a dream that I find myself in now.

It made her sad to think of big fish wallowing around alone like that at the bottom of the dark sea, like a fallen star. And even though it hurt her, she was very happy that she had remembered him, thought of him.

Perhaps he'd been caught in one of those nets that human beings so like to cast into the sea, so as to prevent fish from reaching the refracted light. Or maybe he had simply forgotten her. For the first time in her life she thought:

I am a fish without the Tigris
I am the Tigris without a fish.