Old Eddie Poem by Marilyn Shepperson

It had snowed all the night
Carrying on into the day
Now it was late afternoon
It had finally ceased
The snow was deep in places
Crisp, but not all that even
When old Eddie decided he would go
For a walk before dinner
Dressing up warmly as he could
He ventured outside
Walking briskly where the snow was slight
More slowly where it was thick
Till he came to his favourite place
The wild expanse of the open beach
There were icicles hanging from the cliffs
The sand was completely frozen
It might even have been possible to make
A snowman from the seas' spume
The rockpools all had a covering sheet
Of thin, green, glassy ice
Old Eddie gleefully found
He had the beach all to himself
As he walked slowly along
Drinking in the beauty
He spied a strange unknown shell
Nothing like the ones he knew so well
He picked it up, it was a pretty thing
Banded in yellow, red and green
Smiling he put it to his ear
Expecting only to hear
The echo of his breathing
But when the shell spoke to him
He took it quickly from his ear
And stared at it in amazement
For it had said, 'If you take me home
I will make your fortune'
It lay there now in his palm, silent
When a passing gust of wind
Knocked it from his hand
And sent it merrily bowling, along the beach
Old Eddie ran after it, as fast he could
The wind gave it another shove
Rolling it down to the sea
Where the greedy wavelets
Quickly drew it far under
Old Eddie waded out as far he dared
But he could no longer see the shell
Thoroughly soaked and very depressed
Old Eddie walked back home
Ate his dinner and fed up
Went to bed quite early
However he found when he waoke
That he hadn't come away with nothing
For he had now got
A nasty, stinking cold.