Beside The Sea

[Zondrae]

Heather asked for poems about the sea.

Beside The Sea.
© Zondrae King (Corrimal) 12/07

Australia’s an island so our land is girt by sea.
I live beside the ocean but I find it frightens me.
I’ve seen the angry lightning when the Summer storms begin.
I’ve heard the roaring thunder and I’ve watched a gale blow in.

The solid feel of sandbars seem so safe to country folk
and immigrants or tourists, who think warnings are a joke.
The power of the rip tide can pull swimmers to their grave.
Thank God for heroes of the surf for all the lives they save.

That octopus, how innocent, skin colour of the rock,
blends in around the shoreline, but its bite can more than shock.
For when it senses danger there it flashes rings of blue
if you don’t see and back away, could be the end of you.

Up North we watch the jellyfish, those bobbing, drifting things
float in and out upon the tide - be careful, they have stings.
The bluebottle’s long tendrils cling. Box jellyfish can kill,
and if the ‘Box’ don’t get you well the crocodiles sure will.

If you should go out diving there are other dangers too,
Electric eels and sea snakes, there are stingrays and Fugu.
A giant clam could snare your foot and trap you there to drown
Don’t mention those enormous squid explorers found deep down.

There’s stonefish and there’s cone shells and there’s fire coral too.
The dangers of the ocean are well known to me and you.
But all these seem just paltry things when measured up beside
the sharks, the perfect predators, that in the sea reside.

There’s Tiger shark and Bull Shark. There are Whalers, bronze and blue
the Great White, we should call him king, we must include him too.
So go enjoy your Summer. You might have a swim or three.
I don’t go in the water. Just a land lover, that’s me.

[Heather]

Thanks Zondrae. The terror and the beauty.

Heather

[Rimeriter]

"Thanks" Zondrae.

Bloody scary, aint it ?
Jim.

[Maureen K Clifford]

always knew water was bad for you - now you've confirmed it Your poem won't do much for the tourist industry Zondrae

[Zondrae]

Thanks for the replies,

Maureen I don't think many tourists will get to see it. However, my mother did a great job in making me afraid of the ocean. I can still hear her saying "Don't come walking in here with your legs bitten off and expect me to look after you for the rest of your life."

I am still very afraid of any deep water; specially if it is moving and you can't see the bottom.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Well written, Zondrae. Irrational, but well written.

[Neville Briggs]

I thought that was good Zondrae a very interesting alternate view to the seaside lovers.

I suppose you weren't game to challenge your mother on the logic of how a person could walk in with their legs bitten off.