with audio by Jordon Hodges
The sun rose on a man with a shaggy grey beard,
In the middle of a lake on a boat that he steered.
He baited his hook and he cast out with care,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
That empty lone lake like so many morns before,
He’d never once brought a fish back to his door.
No one else fished that lake, not a soul anywhere,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
About to pack up, to reel in and head back,
When he felt a strong pull and he heard a great crack,
A fin smacked the water, all he could do was to stare,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
The fish that he saw, on the end of his line,
Was two and a half feet long, he swore at that time.
He fought all he could, but in the end got nowhere,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
He rushed home to his wife, to share the great story,
Of the meter long fish in all of its glory.
He spared no detail, ‘bout the fish oh so rare,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
In town the next day he told all who would listen,
Of the five cubit long whale he’d hooked while out fishin’.
They hung on his words, not a tale could compare,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.
How big that fish is today, well I’m sure I’ve lost track,
I last heard eight yards, told to me two months back.
With each telling it grows, and I say that’s only fair,
A shame and a blessing that no one was there.