A poem by Neil Gaiman

Conjunctions


Jupiter and Venus hung like grapes in the evening sky,
frozen and untwinkling,
You could have reached and up and picked them.
And the trout swam.
Snow muffled the world, silenced the dog,
silenced the wind...
The man said, I can show you the trout.
He was glad of the company.
He reached into their tiny pool, rescued a dozen,
one by one, sorting and choosing,
dividing the sheep from the goats of them.
And this was the miracle of the fishes,
that they were beautiful.
Even when clubbed and gutted,
insides glittering like jewels.
See this? he said, the trout heartpulsed like a ruby in his hand.
The kids love this.
He put it down, and it kept beating.
The kids, they go wild for it.
He said, We feed the guts to the pigs. They're pets now,
They won't be killed. See? We saw,
huge as horses they loomed on the side of the hill.
And we walk through the world trailing trout hearts like dreams,
wondering if they imagine rivers, quiet summer days,
fat foolish flies that hover or sit for a moment too long.
We should set them free,
our trout and our metaphors:
You don't have to hit me over the head with it.
This is where you get to spill your guts.
You killed in there, tonight.
He pulled her heart out. Look, you can see it there, still beating.
He said, See this? This is the bit the kids like best. This is what they come to see.
Just her heart, pulsing, on and on.
It was so cold that night, and the stars were all alone.
Just them and the moon in a luminous bruise of sky.
And this was the miracle of the fishes.