Man, represented as a fish in this poem, rejoices at the vast variety of pleasures and worldly possessions available to him in the waters of the world. But he fails to realize that all these are a part of the scheme laid down by the negative power to keep him enmeshed in the web of the world. Man plunges into the shallow waters — the insipid pleasures of the world — and like the fish, is caught in the fisherman's net and 'sold' in the market of birth and death.

The fish rejoices at the sight
Of vast expanses of water,
Unaware of the net that Kal has laid.
Vain and buoyant,
It frolics in shallow waters,
It gambols along rugged shores.
Soon it is parted from water,
To be put in the market
For sale.
Intoxicated, it noticed not
The mesh laid around it.
Alas, says Kabir, the world,
Craving for sense pleasures,
Is entangled in the net of Kal.

K.G., p. 89:86
Ranjasi meen dekhi bahu pāni