poor greynosed lovely

whistling your cry through the depths of the oceans

wailing for a time passed, long long ago

clenching that memory that boat made of ebony

that man made of ivory

resounding calls through the walls off the coast of Nova Scotia

sixty years past

since that hot summer night beneath the twinkling stars

and as you strayed from your shoal

to more shallow depths

some great animal blocked your sky

and as you came closer to see what it possibly could be

you saw through the moonlight a glistening body

a sparkling and bubbly man

trapped in the stomach of some gruesome freak of nature

to the rescue you came

but you got all the blame

and you were badly beaten with a stick

when all you did was try to help

and although many years have passed

and you know now what you did not then

that boats have fishermen

and fishermen nets

you love him still

so on this starry clear night you'll put up a fight

and struggle to reach his house

embedded upon the cliffs off the coast of Nova Scotia

on the shore you will land

and there find his hand

stroking cross your head

together lying in a moribund embrace of the night

til morning come

and none is left of them both

but the rotting carcass of whale, and the ivory of man

fin in hand