Swimmer’s Heart

Love is a summer-side pool,

Glam and alluring

All beauty and sunlight

Bright, clear water

With white fluffy clouds

basking in your sunglass sky

At first, you don’t really want to get in,

You’re shy to bare yourself so thin,

Strip down to the skin in front of everyone.

At first the cold water makes your lungs seize up

And your laughing like an idiot, just trying to breathe

It takes so long to talk yourself

into giving in completely

Holding that first breath

Submersing entirely

And then, the water warms

You’re a gosling, a dolphin

In love with bubbles and crests

The stretch marks of sunlight

Dancing on a mermaid’s bed bottom

But then the clouds get dark

The lightning catches you off guard

Flash-clap-boom-down

You have no choice

It’s over, you’re out

The wind whips at your skin

As though it’s punishing you for being so naïve

For letting yourself believe that life

Could ever be so beautiful

That the sun would never set

The goosebumps claw at your bare arms

And you can’t stop the shakes

The shakes that rack your shoulders

Like sobs

Trying to get dry

You huddle amongst the damp

Of broken heart towels

Soaking up water beads

Like tissues for chlorine tears

You go home

Take a shower to rinse away

The filmy residue left in your eyes

On your skin

Your heart

Wait a minute…‘Ouch!’

You frown as you go to curl up in bed

Clutch your chest with fingertips like raisins

What’s that mess amongst your ribs?

What’s that bleeding?

Mom? What’s the cure for swimmer’s heart?

And you vow never to go swimming again

This just isn’t worth it

But when your friends call the next day

You realize,

No matter how crappy it makes you feel

No matter how great the risk

No matter the consequences

You miss the pool

& You just can’t stay away