The sky was bright,
the sea was calm, the land was in sight,
and the man was happy,
rowing his little boat.
He was happy
not because the sky was bright, nor because the sea was calm,
but because his little boat
was full of gold.
So full it was,
the water line was way too high,
but, as I said, the sea was calm
(and the land was in sight).
[Alas, suddenly little holes appeared just below the water line!]
And it was clear to the man
that his boat would sink
before he reached the land
(which was in sight).
‘If I throw half my gold overboard’, thought the man,
‘the holes will rise above the waterline,
and I’ll make it safely
to the land’ (which remained in sight).
But the man had but one fear,
and the thing he feared, above all,
was, of course, being poor once more.
(And, he was a very clever man, not one to give in to the tyranny of the obvious.)
And so he thought just a wee bit more:
‘if only the holes were bigger,
I could plug them with them bricks of gold’,
and make it safely to the land’ (which was in sight).
And so he got his penknife,
and a small brick of gold,
and whittled, as fast as he could,
Until in fit it would.
[And it worked! Just a little water dribbling in around the edges!]
And so, with great urgency,
(for he was a diligent, hard working man)
he whittled away,
whistling a happy tune (for was he not the cleverest of all below the bright sky).
So focused was he, on the task at hand,
so intoxicated, by his own ingenuity,
he failed to see the water coming in,
still too fast (to reach the land that was in sight).
[And so the boat sunk.]
Defiant, to the end,
the man grabbed what he could,
and drowned as only a rich man would,
in style (while the land was in sight).
[And those who watched, out there on the shore,
(for the land was in sight),
said: ‘such courage, may it be an example to us all,
Lest we give in to the tyranny of the obvious'.]