How many times did I run past that plaque?
Back and forth across the beach.
Each time missing its message.
Sagely embossed in cobalt blue and brass.

“For the millennium
Your Lord Mayor commemorates when
Once on these very sands
That first fish found its feet
To stand under our sun!”

Who knew,
I grew up somewhere so momentous?
Certainly not me!

Or did I just miss
A daily parade dedicated to
That intrepid proto-tetrapod
Who first plodded ashore?

Surely not,
No, I’d have noticed
My memories would overflow
With flair and fanfare

The legs of that petrified and weary pier
I played between in childhood
Would be bulged and buckled
By a crowd
Spilling out into the sea

And from our unlit lighthouse
I’d see mourners rich with respects
To scatter by surrendered bones
In the cetacean cemetery
Instead of desiccated sands

One must wonder
Why Tiktaalik would ever pick
Such an unassuming seaside town

Were the neon lights brighter
More alluring back then?

Or did that befooted fish think
They’d find their fortune
In our ancient arcade
Before inflation popped each gold piece

I can’t honestly see any appeal
Where saline air is more flavourful
Than any of our food

It makes no sense!
Who would ever leave the sea
That boundless drowning opportunity
To the chance to be
One of those people
With their pickled opinions
Who’d vomit on
The innovation of walking on your fins

Unless,
Yes
I see now
How if your fellow fish were worse
If you were just a freak to them
Who couldn’t swim half as good
You’d abandon them for land
Given sufficiently buoyant bravery

Because maybe you’re not some malformed misfit fish with feet
Instead you’re a first step
__

Poison by u/More-Novice-Than-You

Asking for a Moment by u/Youngringer