(An incident in New York City harbor)
Oh, how it still makes my heart quail
To think of the fate of a whale
With four thousand pounds
Of gear that surrounds
Its mouth and its torso and tail.
Consider the effort it took
With cutter and hacksaw and hook
And oversized pliers
To sever the wires
That fisherman dumped and forsook.
Three days, but they got the whale free
And ushered it out to the sea
To swim with the cod
And frolic with God
Who looks after fishes and me.