Why Am I Here

Why Am I Here? I went for a swim, just barely 18, Trying to ride waves like I'd never seen. Youth seems eternal, and I went without fins Against such power, no human being wins. Water walls rushing at me ten feet high, Try jumping over, leaping for the sky. Cannot touch bottom as I'm drifting out, Difficulty breathing as I'm thrashed about. Knocked underwater, spinning head over heels, Can you imagine how scary that feels ? It takes all your might to surface for air, As another ten foot wave is suddenly there. Fear is within me, am I going to die ? A critical moment, I must fight, I must try. Somehow, someway, I ride a wave in Close enough to the shore to feel land again. My friend and a lifeguard were coming to see How I'd survived in that raging sea. Was the hardest thing physically I've ever done Some 50 years ago in the California sun. Jim Hendrickson