"We are vessels, are we not?" Tuco asked
 
After a moment Arlu replied
"I think that we are, rather, that which is in the vessel."
she paused, looking still
at the slow moving stream
 
Then she looked up
looked into Tuco’s eyes, touched his mustache
with her glance, lingered
briefly before turning back to the stream
“We are the water,
not the fish.” she said

RD Savage, No Shore Meditation

Tuco turned at the sound.
Fish splashed in the pond
behind them.

Arlu had talked
to Arlene about introverts.

Arlene had told Tuco about it,
how she said, "extroverts thrive out loud
while the introverts go invisible.

But like fish in a pond,
someone outside
sees the huddle in the shadows
while those in the huddle dimly
know the signs of others there
with them in those shadows."¹

Tuco looked for the fish
in the shadows.
But Arlu began to talk
about how they always danced
around
each other.
He turned,
listened,
as she went on,
"I wonder sometimes,
why we come and go
the way we do."

She peered into the water
gone still.

"We are like the fish
in the shadows.
But its time
for the sun."

She looked over at him
stepped over her past

With all her effort
she would go

As with water
she would go. ²

Tuco beamed
agreement.