Tavernier, Florida

What a fantastic week to take a mental vacation to one of my favorite places in the world!  Sitting here in gloomy, rainy Seattle sure does make me wish I was sitting on a boat in the Florida Keys!  I think this one may need a little bit of refining, I'm not sure my attempt at poetry really does this experience any justice.  I hope I can convey my love for this place to you through my words!

Tavernier, Florida

The water shifted past mangrove stand

between a vivid array of colors.

Dark purple marked the reef's edge,

the bright azure of the shallows

and the lively greens of the sea grasses.

The air buzzed with life,

from the beautiful white heron

waiting on a hapless fish,

to the faint splash of a ray

it's wings flapping from the water.

Above, the edgy black Man O War

glided on a gentle ocean breeze.

The boat passed slowly through

the life in the narrow channel.

Another ray flying into the depths

from the nearby shallow flats.

A school of mullet flopped 

over the white sandy shallows.

The high buzz of a mosquito

as constant as the salty and woody

aroma of the mangrove trees

whose roots reach fingerlike

into the murky waters below.

Slowly the boat drifted away 

drawing my eyes skyward.

The deeply blue sky contrasted

by the stark white puffs of clouds

as the engine started to speed us

away from the wonderland

and back to the suburban reality

upon the shore.