Too far out

The poet sees comedy in the man’s drowning, the way the man is flapping his arms. He is drowning, not waving to the crowd.The crowd is too far away into the beach.They think the man is larking away.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

…I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

The man is larking? Waving his arms about seems like bidding adieu to the crowd.

She is such a lark, Stevie Smith .

Tra la la!