Leafy seadragon

while the jetty's shadow gathers around us like a blanket.

At first, a leafy sea dragon can be difficult to see, even when it is resting only a short distance away.

Your eyes find the weed before they find the animal, because its body follows the same curling lines and muted colors as the plants surrounding it.

A long snout points gently into the water, while delicate leaf-shaped appendages extend from the head, back, belly, and tail.

Nothing about those ornaments needs to move with purpose.

They simply drift, allowing the sea dragon to belong completely to the garden around it.

You notice the outline slowly, in the way one recognizes a familiar shape inside a dream.

There is the narrow body, angled among the weed, and there is the softly arched neck leading toward a small, watchful eye.