Martin was hot as he sat by the shore.
They'd come for the ocean, but he liked the sand more.
"The water is fine, come on in!" said his dad.
But the waves looked so big, that idea sounded bad.
His mother insisted, "You should go in."
No point in fighting--his mother would win.
She covered his face up with strong suntan lotion,
Then they walked down to the edge of the ocean.
His pinky toe was first to enter,
Then the big toe, front and center.
An hour later he was up to his knee,
And he was turned round, so he didn't see...
A monstrous wave came up from behind,
It knocked off his suit (which was quite hard to find).
The wave knocked him down, and he cried for a while.
It was half a day later before he could smile.
"I'll never go back, not ever!" he said.
"I'll stay in my room, under covers in bed."
Martin was happy, that he'd arrived home,
But that wave was special: it knew how to roam.
The wave was now hiding behind his oak tree.
When it peaked out at him, Martin could see.
He ran inside quickly and slammed his front door.
What would a wave want to follow him for?
The wave didn't leave--it was always around.
He could tell where it was by the swoosh-swooshing sound.
He heard it at dinner while eating some rice,
But no one else could, he even asked twice!
The wave followed close on his way back from school.
When someone was coming, it hid in a pool.
It was waiting outside while Martin was playing,
Pretending to be water that the sprinkler was spraying.
By the end of the week, Martin was through.
He needed it gone, and he knew what to do.
He went to the ocean, on the very next day.
He turned to the wave and had something to say.
"I'm sick of you wave, now get back in there,"
Being scared of this wave was too hard to bear.
He jumped in the water, the wave jumped in too,
"Let's settle this now, just me and you!"
The wave came up fast, but Martin was brave,
He was no longer scared of this meddlesome wave.
With both arms stretched out, he rode the wave back.
It seemed that with swimming, he had a knack.
For the rest of day, Martin had fun,
With the water, the waves, the sand and the sun.
The wave didn't scare him, once he gave it a try,
And when he left the water, he waved it goodbye.