DIVER DAN

 

A man went diving

In the warm green-blue sea,

With a scuba pack on his back

And flippers on his feet.

Now, this man, Diver Dan,

Had a secret yet untold -

The deepest he'd dived was eight feet five

In the local swimming pool.

Neither was Dan particularly brave,

For he feared the fate of a watery grave.

When he was small,

Aged only four,

A wave had dragged

Him from the shore.

There he'd been with bucket and spade

Admiring the castles he had made,

When all of a sudden,

Completely unseen,

A wave grabbed his leg

And dragged him to sea.

Over and over tumbled the kid

Held in the wave's titanic grip,

Til, all at once,

Like a gigantic hand,

The sea threw him back

Onto the sand.

Well, ever since then,

When Dan saw the sea,

He started to shake and

Went weak at the knees.

But as he grew older

He sensed something wrong,

That out on the water

Was where he belonged.

He turned to his father,

Said to him 'Why

Do I long for the water

When I know I will die?’

His father said, 'Son, it's time that you knew,

You come from a long line

Of gentlemen who

Used to work on the sea,

Make their living on water.

The sea's in your blood,

It's what you were born to.

We were fishermen see,

And captains and pirates,

Cooks in the galleys,

Commanders of frigates.

We were sons of the water

And men of the sea.

It's time that you faced

What you're meant to be'.

'Then tell me,' said Dan,

'Why aren't you out at sea?

'Oh, that's easy,' said Dad.

'I'm as scared as can be.

A long time ago,

When I was a lad,

I was out catching fish

With my fisherman dad,

When, lo and behold,

Onto the deck,

Jumped a hammerhead shark

That went straight for my leg.

I dodged out the way,

Fell into the sea,

Where I was quite sure

That shark would eat me.

My father said, 'Son,

What's the matter with you?

It's just a wee fish

In need of a chew.

If you keep still

You'll be just fine',

But I saw the hunger

In that fish's eye.

So now I know

Of the perils that loom

Just under my feet

In the deep dangerous gloom'.

From that moment on

Whenever he heard

The crash of the waves

And the smash of the surf,

Dan ran away

From the edge of the land,

Away from the water,

Away from the sand.

He felt so ashamed

Of his cowardly streak

When he knew in his bones

He should be out at sea.

So how did Dan,

In his new diving gear,

End up in the sea

With all of his fears?

Well, one day,

He chanced on a girl

So very pretty

It made his head whirl.

They walked and talked

For many a day

Until he confessed

What made him afraid.

‘Oh, Dan,’ she sighed.

‘Just think of the things

That you’ve been denied

Cause once long ago

You were lost in the tide;

The corals’ bright colours and wonderful shapes,

The Pillar, the Blade, the Staghorn, the Brain,

The Whip and the Fire, the Finger, the Fans,

You’ll see none of these if you stay on the land.

And then there’s the Clown Fish, the Puller, the Rass,

The Cod and the Conger,

The Angel and Bass,

The Tang and the Sturgeon,

Lion Fish and Grunts,

Parrotfish, Dragonfish,

Dory and Drums.

There’s a million lives

In a million homes

You’re going to miss

Under the foam.’

So great had his love for Dorothy grown

He gathered the courage to go out and roam.

And so they went

All over the world,

From Bali to Baffin,

Samos to Sindo.

There wasn’t a place

Where they didn’t go

For Dan’s fears disappeared

Just by diving below.