Drowning

DROWNING The 4th of July. A reluctant trip. A promise to keep. Wife and kids on the shore. I swim on a troubled soul. "What if I just let go?" "What if I slip beneath the waves?" On I swim until I know I am beyond my mortal soul. Waves wash over me. It is time to go. Losing my hold I let go. "Wait! I don't want to die." This fatal swim is my folly. An attempt to heal my temporal soul. I swim for shore wasting fast. I don't know if my strength will last. I reach for the ground beneath but slip instead farther into the deep. Gasping, I return in to the sultry air. weaker now than before choking on the pleasant waters. I hear myself pray, "Let me live another day." Life is better with all of its ills than to lie beneath the windy waves. I fight the waves with desperate hope . I fight to survive. The gentle waves are no longer so but towering mountains stealing breath. I am drowning. I fight to swim. I fight to live. Choking. Gasping. "O God help me!" Suddenly I am a religious man praying as hard as I can. I search for the ground but sink again into the murky deep. My eyes are wide in terror like some frightened horse. Falling faster ever faster to a watery tomb. With one last gasp and a frantic stroke I inch closer to the shore. I am finished. I can't go on. I let go. My feet touch the ground my head above the waves. "What? I'm alive!" Grateful I swim to the shore where ignorant of my fight my wife and children enjoy the day. I fall down upon dry ground crying tears of relief. In that moment of greatest joy with my battle fresh inside. I look at my wife who calmly sighs, "What kind of sandwich do you want?"