Imaginary Destruction

From the Evening Star, July 14, 1915. By Philander Johnson.

If all the men who talk of fish
    Were fishermen for sure,
If fact were equal to the wish
    That stoutly doth endure,
If all the men who sit and write
    Of fish, in verse so fine,
Had sought the waters that invite
    The patient hook and line,
If all the tackle that is made
    And every year turned loose
‘Mongst sporting goods to be displayed,
    Were put to active use,
The situation could be told
    In language quite succinct:
The fishing yarns would all be old;
    The fish would be extinct.