What themes is David Malouf exploring in his story "Towards Midnight"? How is he commenting and adding to readers' understanding and appreciation for life?

The most significant theme of the story "Towards Midnight" is mortality and death. The woman in the story has cancer and spends much of the story reflecting on the decline of her body and her dwindling time on earth. The speaker struggles with her illness and at times seems to wish for death. This is implied in the opening paragraph of the story, when the narrator states of the woman that "in her dream-state, she felt only the relief it would be to pass the weight of her body, light as it now was, to some other agency."
Her dark thoughts find relief when she spies a swimmer in the pool at the building where she lives. Through watching him, she is reminded of the wonder and vitality of life itself. She looks down from her terrace and comments on how his presence and action of swimming make the pool seem to "[expand] and [contract] like a living thing." She notices the "streamers of light at his shoulders," the "heap of silvery bubbles" he leaves as he turns in the pool, and "his powerful strokes." Through watching him, she is reminded of the power of the human body and the beauty of human existence. After watching him, the change in her mood is apparent when narrator says that "she felt settled, wonderfully so."She impatiently awaits more times when she may view this mysterious swimmer. The story mentions how his presence affects her: "he brought the pool to life, and with it the quickening of her heart." It could possibly be inferred that the pool, described as "heavy and still in the heat," is a symbol of the woman's dwindling hope and weakened body. The swimmer, and the beauty and hope with which he fills her heart, does not always appear, and in his absence, she reflects on the fact that his presence, like life, is "a small blessing, but one, she knew, must also have its term."
The swimmer's energy and movement in the pool fills the woman with awe and appreciation for the gifts of life. She describes his movements as "effortless" and "weightless," and his lungs draw breath that "might have no end."
Watching the graceful beauty of the human body in motion gives the woman a sense of marveling at humanity and an underlying hope that life may hold more wonder yet for her, even in the midst of her illness.