The Tide Comes In

When the sun’s going down and the beach has gone bare, and the buckets have gone, and there’s nobody there, there’s a pool in the rocks at the foot of the cliff, and it’s small, and it’s warm, and it’s waiting, as if

it knows something’s coming, and so does the crab, whose name’s Gus, and who sits, like a stone, on a slab, for he’s waited before, since the water went out, and he’s old, and he knows what the waiting’s about.

And the limpets are waiting, all clamped to the stone, and anemones, shut, like a fist, on their own, and a shrimp, and a blenny, a small stripy fish, who is stuck in the pool and has only one wish.

And the wish is the tide, and the tide’s on its way, for it comes in, it does, at the end of the day, and it’s never once missed, not a night, not a one, and it’s coming now, slowly, now daylight is done.

First a wave, that’s a small one, that touches the sand, and goes back, like a shy sort of shake of the hand, then another, a bit of a bigger one, then one that reaches the rock, and goes back, and again.

And the blenny can hear it, a hush and a hiss, and he swims to the edge, and he thinks, “Is it this?” and it isn’t, not yet, but it’s close, and it’s near, and old Gus lifts a claw, as if saying, “It’s here.”

And it is. There’s a wave that comes over the lip, and the pool gives a shudder, and then, with a slip, it’s not there any more, for the sea’s come inside, and the pool is the sea, and the sea is the tide.

And the blenny goes out, with a flick, and a spin, to the wide of the sea, and the sea lets him in, and anemones open, like flowers, like hands, and the shrimp does a twirl, and he lands on the sands.

And old Gus, well, he sits, for he’s old, and he’s seen more tides than a crab can remember, and been in the same little pool when they came, and they went, and he settles right down in the weed, quite content.

And the sea keeps on coming, up over the rock, up the beach, past the pool, like the hand of a clock, and it covers the sand where the buckets had been, and it smooths it all over, and leaves it all clean.

And it’s dark, and it’s deep, and the water is wide, and there isn’t a pool any more, just the tide, and the crab, and the shrimp, and the fish, and the weed, are asleep in the sea, which is all that they need.