Dolphins leap in the dawn,
their silver backs shedding
sparks of foam, their rhythm
a heartbeat beyond the breakers.
Welcoming the sun,
they raise salt into the wind
as they follow schools of fish
into the morning.
Tonight when they rest in the swells,
swimming with half-closed eyes,
blowholes open to the air,
they will listen for one another
and for the turning Earth
whose moon sounds the tides
that rock them;
and perhaps
they will dream of the stars,
pale phosphorescent ancestors
whistling faintly to them
from the distant currents
of the sky.
From Lizard Light: Poems from the Earth (Sherman Asher).
Used with the author's permission.
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