NITROGEN NARCOSIS

Silver-sided baitfish coalesce
into a swirling mass
around me.
Contentedly I sink and gaze skyward,
the surface of the water is a murano masterpiece.
Barracuda break the spiral silhouette
of the sardine school
and bubbles build in my bloodstream.

Let my bleached palms fall,
upwards, facing the distant rays,
splayed, I rest my head on a bed of eel grass,
align the muscles of my back
with the undulating ripples
of the sea floor.

Ahhhhhh, I sigh slow…
and the sound is metamorphosed
into a silent stream of little globes,
rising dizzy,
bumping into with giddy seahorses.

The parrotfish nibbles bits of coral
with the same dainty reluctance
of a refined lady at tea.
and triggerfish nip urchin filaments
with the barely contained excitement
of kids dismantling sugar sculptures with their fingertips.

I can barely contain my happiness
as I watch the anemone caress
a shy little clownfish,
safe in the folds of her tentacled dress.
Frilly tickling tube worm feelers
lick the brain coral
and my world is filled with silly krill,
sifted in baleen slits,
and drowning in the tremulous melodies
of faraway whale song.