I’m a canoe.
How do you do?
I’m the sleekest
fastest vessel
on the wide ocean blue.
Yes, I’m a canoe
and I haven’t got a clue
how to arrest
my motion if I’m paddled
with devotion
by an energetic crew.
I’m a canoe.
How about you?
Fated by design
to rigorously combine
extreme elongation
with ease of navigation
I’ll pass through
all the sudden storms
and surging waves
that Neptune sends
to test the brave
and save the day.
I’m a valiant canoe.
But I’m no fool.
I have learned my lesson.
I avoid whirlpools,
whether hot or cool,
and grimy monsters
with grave expressions
who bathe in slimy caves
and yearn to take
possession of boats
of any description
or anything else that floats.
I’m a pragmatic canoe
like a sensible shoe,
slim not grim,
modelled for efficiency,
the envy of seagulls,
hoping to travel far
before I am eroded
by the pressure on my hull.
Are you a schooner?
I wish I’d met you sooner.
We can explore
the world together
no matter what the weather
and I will admire
your rudder as we
investigate the other
seascapes that exist beyond
the impenetrable drapes
of mist and fog,
those soggy vapours
that kissed a frog
long ago, so I’ve been told.
I’m a canoe.
There’s a ban on catamarans
where I come from
and that’s why I am single.
Would you care to mingle,
sooner rather than later,
dear schooner, procrastinator,
my seaworthy resistor
of a love that’s true?
I’m a canoe.
Rhys Hughes has lived in many countries. He graduated as an engineer but currently works as a tutor of mathematics. Since his first book was published in 1995 he has had fifty other books published and his work has been translated into ten languages.
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