Between the parking lot and sand
of Miami Beach
there is a small garden
a cobbled square
with an open-air shower
set against the lush, green foliage
and flowers
___
I’m on a stopover
enroute to South America
and I’ve settled here on a bench
in the shade of the garden
to escape the midday heat
___
When, suddening, floating into my frame of view
a petite young girl
a black string bikini, thong
walks up from the beach
glides across the garden
her hair and skin still wet
from the sea
___
She stops under the shower head
presses the chrome button
and the soft spray of water falls
washing her body, her bare skin
as she glistens in the sun
like a lean, dark animal
___
She lingers in the warm air
my eyes soaking up her elegant form
her small, plump bottom
flexing and jiggling as she steps
slowing turning before me
wet under the shower
her hands moving against skin
___
With delicate fingers, she lifts
each small triangle of cloth
that covers her breasts
rinsing them free of salt and sand
revealing to me, for an instant
each perfect, plump nipple
__
Her thumbs hook under string
as she pulls her bikini bottoms
away from smooth, tanned skin
exposing
her mound of Venus, shimmering
before me
purified by water
__
The last spray of the shower
falls like a curtain
like waking from a daydream
and, suddenly, the show is over
as she turns
walks over the cobbles in bare feet
crosses the garden, her body dripping
disappearing down the path
to the lot of cars
__
For a while, I’m left swaying
submerged by her afterimage
pulsing like ocean
during this brief stopover in my travels
this cool reprieve
from the summer sun.
Night Swimming 
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