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# The Ballad of the Stoic Fisherman
- URL: https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/the-ballad-of-the-stoic-fisherman/
- Published: 2022-01-31T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-01-31T12:00:00.000Z
- Description: it was a warm and sunny day and let there be no doubt it would have likely stayed that way a sudden awful shout disturbed the gently swaying reeds a fisherman had scored a bloated body, dirty deeds had earned their ju...
- Author: A. Gee
- Tags: Poetry, Allpoetry Import, #Import 2026-04-25 19:56

it was a warm and sunny day  
and let there be no doubt  
it would have likely stayed that way  
a sudden awful shout  
disturbed the gently swaying reeds  
a fisherman had scored  
a bloated body, dirty deeds  
had earned their just rewards  
no documents on the deceased  
and missing fingertips  
unlikely that he'd seen a priest  
and in his pocket, chips  
three dollar ones, a five, one more  
they add up to thirteen  
the settling of an old score  
that's what they might have been  
perhaps a cautionary tale  
to silence any doubt  
he may have plead to no avail  
the day his luck ran out

our fisherman considered all  
unhooked the body's vest  
and following no protocol  
discretion seeming best  
moved to another fishing spot  
unused that day, his scale  
and came home empty, having caught  
only a fishing tale