There on the beach was a big blow up plastic whale <br />It had just made the trip from across the Atlantic <br />Having abandoned the arms of its eight year old owner <br />Without so much as a “See you tomorrow” <br />And now stranded by an outgoing tide it was slowly deflating <br />In the sun and heat of this New England afternoon <br />The birds were curious tourist adding insult to injury <br />Poking their beaks into the sides of this rubberized find <br />Never asking but only avoiding the obvious questions <br />Like why no flies were involved or what about the lack of smell <br />Which would normally accompany such discoveries <br />A gentle sea breeze from off shore ruffled even more feathers <br />And aroused an alien sort of curiosity when it added the illusion <br />Of life to the seemingly sleeping black blubbery giant <br />The Department of Fisheries was called and a team of experts arrived <br />To take pictures and notes of the tragic but all too frequent event <br />Before any further discomposure could occur and souvenirs lifted <br />As always was the case when these poor sick miracles of nature <br />Beach themselves in what was thought to be a desperate cry for help <br />Such a tragedy could have possibly been avoided with some counseling <br />One uniformed bureaucrat was overheard saying to herself <br />As one of her avian contemporaries found a Croaker in the sand <br />Smelling like the real deal it devoured the evidence before it too <br />Was cataloged a victim of what was being called a thinning of the herd <br />By now having lost most of its volume and mass the plastic whale <br />Was blown over on its side and its blow hole was found to be plugged <br />Some observant and caring tourist from San Francisco began <br />Performing mouth to blowhole CPR on the dying inner tube <br />As the crowd stood by praying for a miracle to occur <br />But on this day it was not meant to be…. <br /> <br />2007 © T Sheridan<br /><br />Ted Sheridan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/does-anyone-have-a-harpoon-handy/
