Poem Collection - MythOfHappiness - 6. The High Dive

It’s quiet today

No one but me

And the guy in the red shorts

It’s probably for the best

It might even make it easier

I swim a lap

And another

And a third

“Building my confidence”

Or at least that’s what I would say

After the last lap I stop,

Swim to the middle of the pool,

And float for a while on my back

Looking up at the clouds

Such a beautiful day to die

I’m kidding, of course

I’m not going to die

Unless you can die

Of being a big ‘ole puss

(And if you could, I’d already be dead)

I take a deep breath

And submerge

Floating just below the surface now

My eyes still open

And it’s beautiful

The light glimmers through

And everything is still

If only for a moment

And I finally make up my mind

I’m going to do it

I surface

And make my way to the edge

And pull myself out of the water

And walk my dripping self

All the way to the bottom of the ladder

And this time I climb

One rung

Two rung

Red rung

Blue rung

And now I’m at the top

And the water’s so far

I feel dizzy

For a second

But it passes

I can do this

I will do this

I start to run

Step, step, step,

Stop

I can’t do this

I won’t do this

I back away from the edge

But there’s someone there

Someone in red shorts

“Hey. I’ve seen you here before”

The wind is so cold up here

“You come up here, and you try to jump”

I’m shivering and the ground is so far away

“And every time you go back down”

He looks at me

And his eyes are so grey

Like the sky on a cloudy day

And he says

“Today, we jump”

So I turn around

And I walk to the edge of the board

And I turn back to him

And he smiles at me

And takes my hand

And I feel like I’m falling

And then we step off together