I learnt the news over the phone <br />My job no longer existed <br />I was no longer required, terminated <br />An extra body in an organization <br />That was going places except without me <br />I went walking to clear my head <br />Seeking to find the answer <br />As to what to do next <br /> <br />I watched the waves washed up to the shoreline <br />While I wallowed in melancholy <br />Sorrow for what I had become <br />A statistic of a hostile takeover <br />My services no longer desirable <br />I felt washed up like the flotsam and jetsam <br />That strewed the beach <br /> <br />A barking dog attracted my attention <br />Momentarily I looked his way <br />And lying on a waters edge <br />Was something big and grey? <br />Huge even at 100 metres away <br />I wondered if I should venture forth <br />And I am so forever glad I did <br />For I witnessed the most wondrous thing <br />A little whale beached on the sandy shore <br />A long way from home, stranded on the slippery sands <br />Suddenly an eye opened and looked straight at me <br />And it blew hot hair my way <br />Proof that it was not dead but breathing <br />From that brief meeting of the eye <br />I knew that he was asking me <br />To get him out of trouble <br /> <br />Disregarding my own needs <br />I sprung into action and grabbed its tail <br />And heaved with all my might <br />Into the raging surf pounding the beach <br />And Lo and behold the creature floated <br /> Whilst I struggled to stay Upright in the surf, <br />The waves trying to engulf me <br />I spluttered with the rising tide <br />And pushed again with all my might <br />As if he heard me, the little fella went upright <br />Wiggled its tail and straightened out <br />Heading out to sea, to deeper waters <br />Exhausted but exultant <br />I watched it swim away from me <br />That was the last I saw <br /> of that little whale<br /><br />Kaci Tami<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/beached-whale/
