The Whale That Swam Up the Thames

It was thought she was pregnant confused as she was and out of her depth. They waded into the river to help. They floated rubber rafts to buoy her up. Marine experts posited ways to keep her breathing in shallow waters. In dockyard pubs hard men openly spoke of her plight, voices low and humorless as they test-drove new technical jargon. When she died; rolling in the pebbly shallows we threw a tarpaulin over her as if she were a human cadaver. We had done our best, had televised everything, implemented elaborate plans, recorded last moments with ripples of hope; watched the sluggish waves wash away her long drowning.