I knew you were coming the night I dreamed of dolphins
Walking with your father beneath veils of Spanish moss
So unlike the icy drapes that cascade from northern roofs
I had watched with joy and awe so many years before
As those sleek coursers sine-curved up the Broad River
That night I stood on boulders – there were boulders, and your aunt was there, too — staring into a sea                         the color of pecans
From a depth where even my night-mind knew no air-breather could ascend
I watched a dolphin fly toward the surface
Mesmerized by the speed of that silver arrow
I gazed as if into a hand-mirror
When the dolphin stood tall on his flukes
Held me for an indelible instant in the full sunshine of his gentle smile
Then bent his strong neck and kissed me on the cheek
Un-pleating my body in one move I sat up straight
Contented and sure like tropical dawn that bursts from dream to daylight
And I knew in a way I have never known anything before or since
You were coming the night I dreamed of dolphins

Marianne Tefft is a poet, lyricist, Montessori teacher and voiceover reader on the island of Sint Maarten. You can read her work on Facebook at Marianne Tefft – Poet & Wordsmith and hear her poems read aloud on YouTube (Marianne Tefft). Her first poetry collection, Full Moon Fire, is to appear in July 2022.