Rock Pools

The swell of the waves 

in our ears, rippling images

over the veined veil of closed eyelid.

The rocks

textured with tiny limpets

speckle our hands with a leopard's

spots. Beneath, seaweed curling languidly in pools

with the light catching in its contours

in points, starry by daylight.

Dogs excited

just to be out in the thrill of today;

the echo of their barking bounds off Constitution Hill.

The promenade snakes

gently around to the pier and the war memorial,

illumined in the same afternoon sun

that glows through the vacillating plantlife,

brown and beautiful

in this exposed underwater world.