Last Swim of the Day

Daddy, why are you getting out?

—I'm tired—

You're stronger than me.
You're better at swimming than me.
Why are you tired?

The stout man in the green trunks
carries his belly up through the pearling sea.
Girl-child, alone in the water:
Daddy, please stay with me—

He cannot stay in.
He lifts the orange towel from the rock, wades up
through the thickening light on the sands.
Pockets of shadow are lying down
in all the day's marks and prints.

She stands in the oyster sea.
She cannot come in.