time is a river flowing
it lets nothing stand in its way
~ obstinately speeds in one direction
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Drowning in sorrow
because you are leaving me.
I jumped in too soon.
As I flail about,
will you toss me a life ring,
or a concrete block?
Both are solutions
to my current state of mind
over losing you.
The first prolongs it,
the latter, ultimately,
brings on my demise.
I need to purge this
constant feeling of longing
for something that’s gone.
This stagnation mode
compromises my future
and pulls me under.
So, just hold the ring
and let the concrete block sink.
I’m fine on my own.
I’ll want for nothing.
I’ll seek others to swim with.
I’ll float without you.
A tropical vacation that I never shall forget
The clearest cleanest ocean that I’ve ever seen as yet
I dabbled in a rock pool with a bamboo handled net
I told my wife, “It’s just for fun, to see what I might get.”
She said, “I know you all too well, you’re looking for a pet,
But look around, there’s no one here - you’ll never find a vet.
So go check out that ocean blue and get your Speedos wet,
I’ve never seen you swim a stroke; not since the day we met.”
I couldn’t let her know why I broke out in such a sweat
The fact I never learnt to swim is something I regret
But I was loathe to let my children’s mother see me fret
And so I said, “I think instead, I’ll have a cigarette.”
How soon we stepped on British tarmac from our Jumbo Jet
My wife waved to our eldest son who’d brought his red corvette
She handed him a ten pound note and said, “That clears my debt,
You’re right, your father cannot swim: I guess you won the bet.”
sink
lower, drowned
submerging, burying, plummeting
absorption, slump, backstroke, fishes
snorkeling, diving, spearfishing
floaty, enjoyable
swim
Date created: 03/26/2022
I fight to keep my head above the waves.
Perhaps I should have stayed inside the boat.
But I believed them when they said, “He saves…”
And now I see I was not built to float.
If water is a metaphor for life,
I’m not quite sure the lesson I should learn.
I so don’t want to drown in all this strife.
The storm, it seems, does not share my concern.
I cry out, Lord! Please take my outstretched hand!
I’m overwhelmed by all that has occurred.
In faith I’d leaped away from all I planned
And now all of my hopes have become blurred.
A test of my belief and faith in Him.
I fear, for me, it’s only sink or swim.
I ramble and shove words together
And sometimes I pick apart my unpleasant thoughts
Look,
I can try to remember
I can try to forget
It’s sink or swim and I can’t tell which is which
those who cannot swim
will not drown in the water
if they stay on land
those who cannot swim
should not drown in the water
if they use a boat
those who cannot swim
should not drown in the water
if they learn to swim
swimmers never drown
unless they enter water
and even boats sink
water gives and takes
at what level should you float
your choice sink or swim
Ivor G Davies
A fool's paradise , to live for what might have been
A maze from which escape comes hard
A time spent which is futile,wasteful and sterile
Wallowing in regret closes every door.
Where you are and how you got there
Should be your starting point
Study the past,make your corrections
Adjust and step out on your chosen path
Dreams are there for fulfilment
But should you fall short
Realign but never give up
Travel with hope,the load-lightener.
How you judge others
Reflects upon you
So look within and learn
Then will you know just what to do.
Sink or Swim?
I never learned how to swim at all
I was young and fell in as I recall
I was frightened of water after that
And reacted to water just like a cat
I never had chance to swim in the sea
I wish I could but that isn’t me
I go to a pool try to stay afloat
But I am afraid I am not a boat
Lessons at forty and still couldn’t swim
I bobbed about on floats therein
The most I could do is float on my back
I had to face it and take the flack
Children swam by and made me feel daft
I wish I could get myself onto a raft
Sink or swim? I can’t stay on top
I sink to the bottom in one big drop
Caught in a sea of memory
Adrift with false security
You claw for the shore
But you need to see more
You're drowning in your own history
There's a lifeboat chartered on give and take
You'll pay the price for the choice you make
So play with the band
Or paddle toward land
Perhaps your ocean is merely a lake
Into the little pond I jump.....Landing with a noisy… plonk
Legs go up…… legs go down
I can go like this all day…. Treading water all the way.
Now you see me ....now you don’t
Who am I….can you say ?
Here’s a clue … to help you find your way.
I change color frequently…to blend in with the scenery
Can you guess who I am ?
Think…… Geddup.…..Think.
A little tadpole learning how to swim.
See my grin?
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