Sea Turtle

She swims far out,
graceful, agile, swift.
Only minutes ago
we watched her slow, lumbering
journey across the sands –
each wave's crash a summons
to her element,
the sea.

Before that
we had borne silent witness to
the excavation of a nest chamber
for her two hundred eggs.
Scraping, pushing,
all her labour performed
with urgent awkwardness -
she dug, deposited her eggs
and covered them
until, her energy sapped,
she seemed incapable of anything
but blundering clumsiness.

Now this miracle of buoyant
joyful life. An exuberance,
as she heads out through
these waterways
perfectly and precisely
mapped within her.

We stand and applaud.