It Was Peaceful
It was peaceful down there
Sitting on the bottom,
Water muffling what I hear.
A lovely day in autumn
To explore some water,
the task at hand.
To escape temps getting hotter
By treading lake instead of land.
It was peaceful down there
Looking up, seeing the shimmering
Of what is usually blinding surface glare
Instead be gorgeous graceful glimmering.
Floating just barely, a little free
Moment seen rarely, for young me
But, to speak fairly, what else could be.
It was peaceful, then it was dire
See the distance to the surface
When my lungs turned to metal on fire.
Full panic, not anxious nor nervous
Only desperate to get to my air
Desperate to be off the floor
Desperate to be pulled from despair
Desperate to live, welled up from my core.
It was peaceful, then it was dire
When I couldn’t kick or stroke legs or arms
Fast enough before the time did expire
For me to surface, despite my head’s alarms.
I remember next only the shore
Dizzily aware that I wasn’t where I was before.
An attempt to vomit, with a much different feeling,
Like being squeezed in the lungs, and it sent me reeling
Back to whatever is called floating in blackness, begging to come back
When you can feel in the tether the slackness, but you’re still trying to track.
When you’re keenly aware that you’re in danger and something is very wrong.
And all you can do is hope to whatever gods that they made your body strong.
Copyright © Jonathan J. | Year Posted 2022
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