Wednesday, August 17, 2011

When The Captain Caught The Crabs

When the Captain Caught the Crabs


“I need to be cool and aloof” said he, somewhat like captain Bligh,
Shouting from the stern of the outboard boat, “hang the floats up ‘cause the crocs jump high”,
All day on the boat he’d schemed, through the neap tides flow and ebb,
To confuse the crew and to spin a route more complex than a spiders web,
We’d left our camp on the rocks, to help pull the pots aboard,
“Be quick and shake the buggers out or they’ll tangle up he roared”
Like Tarzan in the jungle, he gripped the motor like a tree,
And maneuvered through the mud and the mangroves, shaking the tied floats free,
It was plain to see that the crocs were here, ‘cause they’d eaten half a float,
‘praps they’d rather eat live-bait he said, diving off the boat,
Crocs apparently have a taste acquired, and are fussy as to what they eat,
And were not inclined to devour the Captain with his horrible dirty feet,
We might be a motley crew, and a land-lubbing mob of scabs,
But we returned quite healthy, while the captain caught the crabs.

Ian Bidstrup

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