He was born in a Goldfish Breeder aquarium
On a hot summer day in August of 1922.
Not having the right pedigree he was fated
To be a feeder fish for bigger aquarium fish
Instead of a prized Goldy with the right genes.
Shipped to a pet store, luck came his way
A ten-year-old boy named Jimmy miraculously
Chose him out of hundreds of feeder fish
And gave him the name of Oscar.
Elated, Oscar couldn’t believe his luck.
He blew bubbles, ecstatic to be a pet.
Jimmy kept him in a 2 gallon fish bowl;
It wasn’t the Hilton but was better than
A final home in a bigger fish’s stomach.
But Jimmy didn’t take good care of him.
Oscar died three weeks later, but briefly.
While clinically dead, he left his body
And met angelic goldfish in white light
And saw a glorious goldfish lake and
Felt rapturous bliss all around him.
He didn’t want to return to his dull life
Imprisoned in that dingy, crowded bowl.
But he was told he had to go back
By a resplendent goldfish god emanating
Unconditional love and clothed in white light.
Because Jimmy hadn’t taken good care of him.
Jimmy’s father gave Oscar to a neighbor who
Had a pond full of goldfish that he fed everyday.
Oscar lived twenty happy years in that goldfish pond
Until the goldfish angels came for him in December 1942.
Bob Boyd