Life saving

A swoosh of feet
we run to the sea
untethered
whooping
shrieking,
tip-toeing,
running,
inhaling as tummies are circled in waves.

I reach and swim,
pulling through the water,
sand ridges guiding me.

A swoop of silver fish
ripple past me,
through me.
I surface to shout the others
to look see!
Look see!

Dismayed
I turn and see
a newly silvered
wave-line.

We gather and find fish flapping
tails flipping
in silver
flailing for water.

I pick one up and take it gently to the waves.
Hands cupped
feeling the fluttering of fish
like butterfly wings.

I turn to find not just our small patch
but a line of flapping silver
beached
as far as our wide eyes can see.

More hands join and instead of single saving
we scoop handfuls
and fling them seaward,
we watch as they float
then flip
then disappear,
Then we turn
to scoop handfuls more
to save as many breathless lives
as our small large old young hands can carry.

We know it is futile,
that as we gather these,
those die.
We know we can never scoop enough
to stop the silver necklace from reforming with every wave,
but still we gather
and drop
those we can save
into another chance
another hope.

What else could we do?

If you enjoyed reading this please share it with friends. You might also be interested in talking to me about coaching , or maybe try some of my online courses (some are free), or treat yourself to a climate protecting pamper with vegan friendly, organic Tropic which supports the planting of forests and education in deprived areas.
Thanks for being here.
Julie