Under the blue-black waves, compressed breath hissing,
join hands—a circle of four, all intruders,
all floating lightly in this fragile drowned world.

Kick out slowly, in formation. Lift the water,
welling thick like honey round the long weight
of flippered feet. The pattern of eightfold limbs
in bioluminescent light spirals into itself:

the watching creature, bulbous and rippling, unfolds
and gestures back in this semaphore, its own.
Welcome, strangers. Welcome home.