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This poem is copyright 2004
He was diving in the water It was forty feet deep When a muscle in his stomach Began painfully to cramp He tried to remove The weights in his belt But could not find the catch And more frightened felt Weighed down by His oxygen tank Deeper and deeper and deeper he sank He tried to massage His abdomen His watch said he only Had a little more time If he died like this Who would ever him find? "Help me - something, someone!" He called out in his mind Suddenly he felt a prodding In the pit of his arm "Oh no, sharks!" he thought In despair and alarm But soon he saw The dolphin's eye He felt so happy That he could cry Firmly he to the surface rose A sense of healing His stomach's woes Then it drew him all the way to shore On rocks and sand The waves did roar Then for him It did wait To see if he Was all-right He took everything off - He was feeling high Returned to the sea With the dolphin to play And play they did So free and light Then back to the shore Lined with sand so white The dolphin turned sideways One eye looked at his It went on for ages A moment timeless Then the dolphin, the dolphin was gone A happy end, after things had gone wrong. ------------------(Peter Elliott)-----------------------(Inspired by the story at the start of Chapter 1 of "How Can I Help?" by Ram Dass and Paul Gorman)