~FRANNIE LINDSAY~

WALKING AN OLD WOMAN INTO THE SEA

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She doesn’t need her bathing cap
but she wants it on, the rubber peony
over one temple, the ear flaps up;
 
and the scratched yellow goggles
that won’t get wet today
belong right here around her neck.
 
She can’t hear the gulls’ beady voices
yack over our sandwich crusts;
 
or the sea, out late again, tripping home
over its skirts;
 
and she frets about where I have left
her terrycloth jacket and watch.
 
But she knows by the popping
of stones and shell bits
under her flip-flops, and by my own
 
aged hands that grip the slack
elastic waist of her suit,
 
that this is a swim-day, no matter
how long the water
will have to wait.
 

© by Frannie Lindsay