A MARLIN MEETS HIS MATE

He never knew
what ecstasy was,
until he caught up with her,
undulating in the blue-green sea.

She was playful,
and hard to catch,
swimming away
from his proboscis
when she wasn’t blowing bubbles
or doing a dead-man’s float.

Buoyant in the ocean,
he swims towards her,
igniting fire in the water,
surging past blue sharks,
through purple coral reefs
and sea anemones.

Their sleek bodies
become a perfect fit,
a gold lock and key
nestled in the sea.

Rapt outside of himself,
they swim hand in hand,
gills and tails entwined.

A black marlin submerges
with a silvery mermaid
to a euphorious depth
that was meant to be.

Their souls knit together
in stillness,
over a kelp forest
in a limpid tidal pool,

illuminating eternity.