Survival

In the warm waters of the Arabian Sea
Andy, the whale, swam alone and free
Running around, chasing smaller fry,
Making them run for their lives.
Goldfish, tuna and even salmon,
He always had them on the run.
When at night they all slept,
He’d walk through their little nest,
Dispersing their freshly laid spawn,
Probable fishlings of a new morn.

This went on for several years
And the fish had wept many tears.
With all their offspring unborn,
Soon their species would be gone
If they didn’t check the aquatic giant;
The thought at once made them defiant,
They held a meeting to stop the onslaught
Of Andy’s antics on their humble lot.
First spoke Shiney, the goldfish,
"Friends, indeed how we all wish
To get rid of this huge menace
And propagate our own race."

Then Rimba, the restless trout
Who in every summer, feared drought,
Spoke amidst the chaotic din,
Intending to confuse the assorted fins:
"But Shiney, what can be done?
The fellow weighs more than a ton,
And all of us taken together
Would seem to him, light as a feather."

And so the fish folk considered
The well being of the threatened herd,
While they raved in wild tones,
Starry, the seahorse stood like stone.
Then with a drumming voice he spoke,
Silencing every cry and croak,
"My friends, we can’t beat the whale,
Physically he’s just too hale.
But I think we have another option,"
He paused for his words to sink in,
"Looks like Andy needs a mate
Who’d entice him with her gait;
Love softens the hardest soul
And when Andy’s no longer alone
He might leave us all in peace
To prosper in the Arabian Sea."

Now Starry was an esteemed creature,
Respected by all for his wise nature;
They all agreed with his plan
To make Andy a family man.
Teams of strong swimmers were made
To net him a beautiful mate;
Some fervently scoured the Pacific,
Others the Arctic and Atlantic,
The bleak truth they soon encountered,
The whale’s future was globally endangered
Few whales were left in the wild
Of which many were old and senile.
Not one female for Andy they found
While he still kicked them around,
But Starry wasn’t done yet,
A witch, he said, was their best bet;
She lived in the trench of Mariana
And answered to the name of Joanna.
She heard their troubles with attentive silence
About Andy's rampaging turbulence,
When Starry had finished his tale
She stood still, unmoved and pale.
"Oh dear woman," did Starry pray,
"Don't you know an easy way
To help us find Andy a wife
And put an end to our strife?"

"Of course, I do, but it's not easy,
Why, you may even think it's queasy
The story my friend, goes this way,
Eons away from this day
In an era we call prehistoric,
What's now Sahara was then aquatic,
And several thousands of Andy's class
Swam around Africa's submerged mass,
Till one day a meteor crashed in
And destroyed Sahara's vast ocean,
The whales, aplenty, were all wiped,
Only fossils remain of their type
Scattered, hidden in the desert sands
They're the remnants of a robust clan;
Now, if you get me one of those
I'll recreate a beauty for your tyrannical host,
For in this twenty first century
Nothing can withstand my wizarderry.”

When Joanna had given them her word
The amphibians among them formed a herd,
To the East African coast they powered
Then marched towards Sahara untired,
Recruiting others in their quest
To find the lost fossil nests,
The team began wide excavations
In the hope of finding their salvation.
Eight days and two months had passed
When in Algeria they found a cast
Of the creature they all wanted;
Soon their worries were supplanted
By a joy that had been latent
Swallowed by their discontent.
Now back to base the jamboree continued,
Leaving behind the desert's retinue
Of lizards, snakes and locust swarms,
Who'd guided them through the desert storms.

To Joanna they shipped the frame,
She was prepared with her game,
Treated the bones with her culture,
Not in sync with the laws of nature;
Next morn when Andy awoke,
Touched by a feminine stroke,
He was amazed to see another whale,
For her he fell, head, heart and tail
Together they wandered off from the Arabian,
Across the Arctic and the Indian,
Settled off the seas of Finland
And made it their new homeland,
While back home in the Arabian Sea
The marine folks couldn't hide their glee.
Nemesis gone, their species safe
The fishermen too had better days.