The Ocean Boil

We had been at sea
For about two weeks
And were heading south
Approaching the equator
When I spotted something
Far off on the horizon.
I climbed up to the crows nest
To have a better look
And it appeared like
The entire ocean
Was turning white
And for whatever reason
It was coming in our direction.
By this time
Everyone was up on watch
And the whole ocean
Was beginning to boil.
It was a school
Of yellowtail tuna
That stretched
As far as the eye could see
In every direction.
They were big ones too,
Maybe forty pounds apiece.
A bunch of them
Played at the bow of the boat
For quite a while
And we could reach down
From the bow sprint
And touch their backs.
It almost seemed like
They were trying to
Jump into the boat
And all we needed to do
Was to figure out how
To give them a boost.
My aunt was great cook
When it came to fish,
And those fish
Looked like they would be
Mighty good to eat.
The only problem was
That the Diamonds insisted that
Their seven year old son
Should be the fisherman.
We had a little bit of tackle
And some make-shift bait
But their son
Only managed to
Sacrifice what little
Gear we had
To the Gods of the sea.
For most of a day
We passed through
That massive school of fish
Trying in vain
To find a way to land
One of them.
I suppose it was a proverbial
Fisherman’s dream.
It looked like there were
Enough there
To feed the whole country
For a year or more.
Apparently they were pursuing
A mass of flying fish
Because a few of those
Did manage to land
On our deck.