A small shoal of bright yellow fish <br />swim in and out of the red fire coral <br />looking out for predators <br />they ignore the strange black shadow above them <br />and swim to another coral <br /> <br />I watch the fish with interest <br />from behind my plastic dive mask <br />as I begin to swim deeper <br />the coral’s change <br />to the colours of the rainbow <br /> <br />It seems like a new world <br />hidden beneath the surface <br />I feel foreign down here <br />as I don’t understand the beauty <br />of my surroundings <br /> <br />A mantra swims past <br />followed by three more <br />their huge wings <br />flap slowly and gracefully <br />as though they were flying <br /> <br />As I turn to go back to the surface <br />to return to my ageing motor boat <br />a mud brown octopus <br />swims up to meet me <br />and to shake my outstretched hand<br /><br />John Westlake<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/021-diving-by-the-coral-reef/
