From above,

a boa of light descends

to encircle her neck

& drape her left shoulder –

l o o s e l y…

See,

within this buoyant

tumble of golden light,

innumerable seahorses –

bobbing, swimming –

necks tucked inward,

tails curling, uncurling,

dorsal & pectoral fins

fanning air & propelling

delicate-ridged bodies

back upstream

to the light’s source

Amidst this,

she sits, smiling,

festooned

in the seahorses’

gyre & shimmer,

wreathed

in the radiance

of her own

h

 e

  a

    l

     i

      n

        g.

— C.Birde, 2/22