He had his own fishing boat for many years though he never ventured far out to sea <br />And from fishing he made a good living enough to upkeep his family <br />He was born and he still lives near the ocean and the ocean holds no fears for him <br />But to many it may seem a bit strange that he's never learned how to swim. <br /> <br />Though he left school young for to fish with his father he's a bright man and nobody's fool <br />And his son and daughter live in the big city their children in Primary school <br />Two years ago his wife she died suddenly they had been married for thirty five years <br />And though for her his grieving is over thoughts of her still move him to tears. <br /> <br />A year younger than him she felt quite well till a massive heart attack struck her down <br />And one day he too will go to join her in the grave yard in the sea side Town <br />He had a wish to be cremated and his ashes spread on the sea shore <br />But to his wife he must remain true and with her he will lay forever more. <br /> <br />He sold his fishing boat when his wife died his great zest for life with her died <br />He now lives on the old age pension and from his cottage he can hear the tide <br />Rage against the rocks on the fore shore the huge waves they rumble and roll <br />The immortal voice of the ocean is ever soothing to his soul. <br /> <br />Last February he turned seventy and the years have left him gray and slow <br />Still he finds comfort in his good memories of his better days decades ago <br />Of his beautiful wife and their children but life part of mortality <br />And the Reaper is now quietly waiting for the non swimming man of the sea.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-non-swimming-man-of-the-sea/
