By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2024

First published in Cantos, 2025 Edition (February 27, 2025)

Based on an excursion with my twin sons to Stingray City, Grand Cayman Islands

Pixie dust…fairies
enchanted sea sprays,
tiptoeing white sands
where strange creatures play…

Ballet beneath us
pirouetting eyes,
billowing skate wings
on currents that rise —
onto a sand bar 
jeweled by turquoise hues —
faceting sting rays
in clear seas, infused,
with children’s laughter
sparkling sun, amused,
by playful touches
of stingrays, bemused,
as they are fed squid
clenched by tiny hands,
vacuum-sucked by mouths
in releasing strands…

A kingdom mid-sea
where magic does reign
as, spellbound by skates,
we enter their domain.