The beach.
Nice, warm, and sandy,
Yet no one in sight.
A cold breeze picks up.
The pleasant blue sea
Turns into a pool of threatening black waves.
Dark, stormy clouds
Ominously form on the horizon.
They advance towards the beach
Like an army of black horses.
At first, the rain is a trickle,
Then, as it gathers,
It pours from the sky
In an unstoppable torrent.
Yet, in spite of all this,
A man arrives
And lays down his belongings.
Who is he?
He is a harbor sampling intern,
Faithfully doing his job for the MWRA,
And helping others in the process.
Why is he here?
He is collecting samples of water
So that the tiny creatures in them may be studied.
He bears the rain and cold
Though it rages at him,
Pouring on him,
Making his job
Harder,
Unpleasant,
And tedious.
It makes it harder for him to
Collect his samples,
Preserve his samples,
And record his work.
It makes him
Cold
And uncomfortable.
It makes him
Restricted,
And have a smaller field of vision.
Yet this man,
This worker
For the MWRA,
Keeps at his work.
He continues to serve
All of the 2.55 million people,
All of the 890,000 households,
And all of the 5,500 businesses
Who are served by the MWRA.
So the weather makes his job
Harder, unpleasant, and tedious,
By making it harder for him
To collect samples,
And to preserve them,
By making him
Cold, uncomfortable,
Restricted, and with a reduced field of vision.
But that he carries on in spite of this,
Makes him a true hero.