My dear fish I miss your colours
Followed you as best as I could, swam
Twirling next to fearless funny you
Until sunset turned you blue.
Your fading shades disappeared
With the last beam of a long day,
You escaped the fisherman this morning
And now into the abysses you glide away.
Saddened to be parted in shallow waters
For a moment still I remain,
Waiting for the moon to hint its presence
Whilst stars begin to shine in constellations,
There’s Orion just above my head.
As darkness blankets the night my eyes
Betray me for an instant to believe
Unfathomable sparkling reflections might be
Stars existing also beneath me.
I sway my hand moving oceans
Thinking I might efface the illusion,
When finally I realise, for the first time
In my life I am bathing in plankton.
A Greek name given to the tiniest wanderers
I spin contort my body eyes wide open,
An unprecedented spectacle I am sure
You see it too. Myriad glittering lights
Thousands of species to be discovered,
Wondering how such microscopic creatures
Could be responsible for half the oxygen I inhale.
A dream attuned to fantasy booming
Into a reality by far transcending it.
[Featured photo: from Plankton: Wonders of the drifting world By Christian Sardet, University of Chicago Press (2015)]