The Swimmer

East Kent, Sunday 1 April 2018

Out of East Cliff’s

tired and tangled streets

with sea-locked central parting

Plains of Waterloo

the swimmer strides

as from the Acropolis

Doric columns

slipping fast from view.

With heavy, tumbling plait

wound up into proffered cap

pale blouse and saree

washed-out pallid blue

feet brown and bare

picking past the town-wrack

she pads down Jacob’s ladder

like other swimmers do.

Little sculling strokes

propel her quick and cleanly

into deeper water and

light too bright for seeing.

Geometric arcs and lines
on painter's perfect sea;

homage paid to nature and

the mystery of being.