Poetry is hard to write.  While the Selkies and their non-stop hard work, dedication, abstinence and laser-like focus are undoubtedly poetically inspirational, it’s still fierce hard to rhyme words.  

With apologies to everyone involved  – especially to anyone who wastes a minute of their life reading this – herewith is my all-new, rhymically-challenged, Ode to the Selkies.

If you meet a Selkie down beside the sea
You may not know which one is which, so just enquir(e)y

You can make a start and ask if the name is Harry
Failing that, move right on and try out Laurence (Larry)

If no is still the answer, keep pressing on
Maybe think outside the box and ask is it Watson

If you still haven’t got it, it might be a Kiely
Check for a ‘tache – and he’s often quite smiley

The fifth chance to try is could it be Ann Smyth
If it as and you ask her she’ll say this ode is shit(h)

You’ll never catch the last one as she’s very, very frisky
It’s very hard to pin her down, that one called Brenda Sisk(y)

I promised Bernard Lynch I wouldn’t disgrace everyone in Myrtleville again after my Ballad of Gordon Adair effort.  Sorry about that, Bernard.

One of the many ode-inspiring images of some of the hard working, focused Selkies.