Find its way, always, to the stream of his birth?
And why does he pursue with such great devotion
The trip to this singular place on the earth?
Is he just a bumbling, a wandering dumb fish,
Or is he somehow instinctively aware
That this difficult task to accomplish
He must fight all obstacles, waterfalls, bears?
This must be the compelling need to propagate
The species. For he is no fool:
It's hard in the ocean his true love to locate,
It's easier by far in the minuscule pool...
But how can the pathways in the cold waters
Imprint themselves in the fish's small brain?
Is it the currents, the salt or some other
Signals that guide him to his early domain?
So, as we grow older, and our life unravels
From the salmon his secrets we're trying to learn.
For when we approach or lives' final travels
To the place of our birth to return we yearn.