Today I stumbled on, by chance,
A most peculiar circumstance.
While walking by the sea I heard
A fish conversing with a bird.

To hear such things one must be sly
And patient: animals are shy -
'Cause most of them consider us
(Quite rightly) to be dangerous.

But I was fortunate to be
So well concealed behind a tree
That I could stand: amazed (of course),
And listen in to their discourse.

At first I found it hard to get
The topic of their tete a tete.
But patiently I waited there
And all at once became aware
That they were wrangling with each other!
The bird was saying "Hear me, brother -
I'm sorry for you - my oh my
Because, sad wretch, you cannot fly!

"It must be hard for fish, poor things
To never know the joy of wings -
To never soar and dive and glide
It must just tear you up inside!
To never leave the earth behind
And through the sparkling air to climb
Exalting in the freedom there
To ride the wind to anywhere!

"You fish, so slow and ponderous
Are nothing when compared to us -
I thank the Gods that I'm a bird!"
The fish guffawed and said: "Absurd!

"You bag of feathers! Listen here -
Your life is fine when skies are clear,
But comes the cold and icy gale
You'll quickly tell a different tale!
While you are clinging to a tree
To save your life, just think of me
As I with grace and leisure swim
Through cool green caverns, dark and dim.
And when the snows of winter lie
And cover up your food supply,
And you are railing at your fate
'Cause you've forgotten to migrate -
You'll curse your lot, and make a wish
To reincarnate as a fish -
Relinquishing beak, claw and feather
To live somewhere where THERE'S NO WEATHER!"

Well, I walked on. That fish and bird
Were locked in conflict quite absurd.
The gift of speech they ought to treasure
Was giving neither of them pleasure.
I'm thankful that humanity
Is smart and sage enough to see
That what each may consider fun
Might not translate to everyone -

It's fruitless effort, we discover
To force one's values on another.