Swimming lessons

At first

The words

Were ants

Easy to dismiss

As they marched across the surface of my mind

Dogma in every step

I tried to cross over them

Difficult

When they loop beneath eyelids

The onset of shingles

Vaguely itching

But not yet full blown hives

The discomfort grew

Which is when I realised

What I had been ignoring

Was the water all along

It seeps

Creeps

Into dry creek beds

Following paths

Carving anew

Unpredictable

But only to a certain degree

It washes whole platoons of ants

And they drown

Kicking and struggling

Dead

From a lack of air

If you’re not Jesus

You have to learn to swim

Ants know that

Which is why they run

At the first droplet

You say you don’t want to get wet

Yet there you stand

Looking at the sky

Like you have never seen it rain before

Here it is again

That advice

Clearly now

And only sensible as sensible can

Learn to swim

Faith floats

Hope hovers

And no one has enough of either anymore

So we must learn to swim

Before we leave the shore

7 thoughts on “Swimming lessons

  1. Awesomely cool to say the least. Your words offer so much — it’s something else. Verse is always at another level and so pleasing to mind & soul. Perhaps as in chess or classical/jazz/folk music, or art. I’m remain forever humble to your way with words: the poet’s way. StaySafe😷 Happy Sunday!
    P.S. By accident this comment turned out to be a post on my blog. My apologies.

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