We hiked to Gurkha Fort
in the heat of mid-June,
Victor and I.
The stream had dried
into shallow pockets.
Clear sunlight shone
on rounded stones.
Little pink fish
gulped tiny mouthfuls,
darted pell-mell
trapped and starved.
They rushed for the bait,
the black barbed hook
pierced clean through
eager open mouths.
It was easy, so easy;
we caught so many
and cast them away
on our way back to school
by Ashok Gupta
