To Radiate, Even Briefly Poem by Sally Sandler

Deep beneath the sea in a bed of sand
a tiny pufferfish flaps tail and fins
and labors over cryptic ridges and
valleys, and burrowing he begins
his DaVinci: Perfect geometry
of circle and furrow, radial lines
all adorned with shells, in symmetry
as if a master hand guides his design.
With luck he'll find a mate who is beguiled
long enough to lay an egg in praise of
his masterpiece, knowing all the while
that he must sacrifice it to the waves.
And I must remember his devotion
to a moment infused with the divine,
to art that radiates with emotion—
however fleeting, oh, it's worth the time.

.........

(Note: A tiny male puffer fish in Japan works day and night using his fins to create an ornate circular nest of radially aligned ridges and valleys seven feet across, decorated with elaborately placed shell fragments, to impress a mate. It's eerily similar to the concentric design of a mandala, or likened to an underwater crop circle. Oceancurrents will wash it away relatively quickly.)