how the water won, again

I started into the blue today, having largely shaken off the sulks. That tide having turned, I was wondering what tricks a surly sea might try on, but I was being soundly ignored.

Under a wave almost invisible in its lack of colour, the light made flicky little lines on the bottom.

“I notice you’ve turned the temperature down. “ I said quite loudly,
but she didn't respond.
"I didnt think you would stay warm all winter, just to lure little old me into remaining faithful.

The sun seemed harsh and low, everything sharply defined in that autumn way. I idly thought about the absent shark nets, and the open sea beyond it.
Below, a single sand whiting, visible only by its startled eye, poked its long silvery snout around in a pointless fashion.

“One fish. Very big deal”

Nothing.

“AND its nearly June, and I haven’t seen one single whale! Where are they all, I wonder. This time last year I saw absolute packs of them. What have you done?”

Nothing.

I was feeling rather justified in my state of wanderlust. My wishing to be elsewhere.
“I’ll leave you, alright, you cranky old piece.”
But she didn’t alter her shifting one small bit., just shone and glittered.

They erupted not ten meters away, huge, black and shining,
the dolphin pod.

The biggest one reflected the sun in flashes. So big, I could recognise his broken fin from where I was. There were dozens of them: I was trying not to shriek lest I reveal my excitement.
So many babies! Six very small ones, identical forms in synchronised miniature, six babies. Babies grown up, big ones, mothers, the pod much grown.

They circle intently, weaving in and out of one another with a sense of purpose.
Over and under, gleaming in the light and sliding down.
The fishermen think they are catching fish when they do this dance, but I know better.
They are tying a love-knot.

A love-knot in the water, and a very complex one, like an aquatic manuscript illumination.
They make no sound. Over and under and around. If I slip into the deep, I can see them, ultramarine blue with the light on their backs. Tangling their love knot.

I cannot restrain my twitching face any longer.
She has won, the sly old sea, that wily old body of water.
“Perhaps I’ll not leave you” I tell her. Such an easily seduced little whore I am.
She says nothing.

“I know.” I say
“I am alien everywhere else but here”

The dolphins continue to tie a darker love knot, further out to sea.