Tom's Rime of the Modern Mariner
Please read the "Rime of the ancient Mariner" as well - it's a spectacular poem.
Rhyme of the Modern Mariner
I was a modern Mariner
I spent my life at sea.
So sit there for a moment
and listen carefully to me.
Listen closely I say to a young one,
I have a story to tell.
It’s sad and wise and learns a lesson
that you can spread to the world.
For once upon a time I was a sailor
a fisherman of the deep.
And I learned some lessons the hard way
you see the Ocean’s not ours to keep!
And so it starts I take a uber
from City to the Port.
To board a ship to see the World
and leave my home up North.
We’re heading South to fish the seas,
to the Southern Oceans we go.
Where the icebergs roam and tempests swirl
and the fiercest winds do blow.
But we don’t fear them, no way!
Our ship is fast and strong.
Our radar picks up weather fronts
so we can run along.
Our GPS and mapping
shows us all the land and bays.
So when a storm comes along
we can safely hide away.
The icebergs - they’re no worry
our hull is extra thick.
We’ll push them out of our way
and keep fishing double quick.
The Ocean is so big and vast
we’ll haul our nets up full.
And when the nets are empty
we will find another school.
Our fish finders can detect
to such an accurate degree,
that we drop our nets around them
and take all the fish we see.
Our trash - well it goes over board
the sea can deal with that.
Why pay a fee when we get to port
when we can dump all our crap?
And if a net does starts to break
the sea can have that too.
For it’s no thought to us on board
if it snags whales and turtles in the blue.
The ocean is no more
than a resource for us to use.
We’ll fish and mine and take want we want
then dump all our refuse.
Who cares about the garbage patch
or the sea temperature rise?
As long as I can get my fish
I’ll happily rest my weary eyes.
We roam through the Oceans
there’s no life to see down there .
The whales are but a speed bump
and the dolphins - well I don’t care!
Sailors of old were scared
and a superstitious bunch to boot.
If we see a flying Albatross
no one shows interest, we stay mute.
Water water every where
and we have so much to drink.
Our desalinator makes it fresh
and heats our showers and sink.
Alone alone, all all alone
I’m never alone at sea.
We have satellite internet
so I can Skype my family.
And then one Port I take a break
and fly to the Ningaloo.
I try a dive it blows my mind
the scene is quite untrue.
The colours - they simply can’t be real,
the fish so many shapes.
The turtles, sharks and manta rays
is this real for goodness sake?
How can I have lived 2 score and ten
years upon this Earth?
And never looked under the sea
to see what it is worth.
Day after day, day after day
I snorkelled and swam in delight.
Whale sharks, rays and octopus
filled my heart with light.
This ocean of ours is so precious
that’s what my Whale Shark guide had said.
There’s a warm water event in South America
that leaves all the Indian Ocean corals dead.
How can it be so connected?
It provides 70% of our Oxygen too.
Then why do we not protect it
for the future generation or two.
Nearly a quarter of the world’s people
rely on the Ocean for a protein source.
But we empty the Oceans with mega ships
and throw plastic upon their shores.
I watch a baby turtle
hatch up from beneath the sand.
I wonder how his life will be
in an Ocean ruined by man.
I looked to Heaven and tried to pray
that I might make things right -
for all the damage we had done
fishing all day and night.
But now the holiday is over
this dream has come to an end.
It’s time to get back on the ship
the nets to the Ocean I’ll send.
But when I pull up to the ship’s gangway
my eyes see clearly now.
The water is so filthy
can I do this this job, and how?
I look upon the rotting sea
and draw my eyes away.
I look upon the stinking port
and there the dead fish lay.
I’ve seen such wondrous things
with my face just under the surface.
That now to throw the nets back in
goes against my new found purpose.