On Thursdays after work I go to the (indoor) pool 

It’s a great time especially since all the kids are back in school

I’m convinced most of them try to scream as loud as possible 

But I’m happy to just put on my goggles 

And dip under 

The bottom of the deep end is a wonder 

En route there I like to pretend 

That I’m an Olympian 

Oh, to have those shoulders & lats 

Halfway to the deep end I gasp

Swimming is hard 

So I break the stroke and just leisurely paddle 

Underwater I’m not a creeper but I observe all the elderly folks 

Getting to the pool for them is the battle 

Some of the older guys could freestyle for hours 

Those in the shallow end are not cowards 

Nah. I see them walkin’ and squattin’ in the resistance 

Moving with steel joints takes persistence 

The young guy with the IronMan tattoo 

Doesn’t know I’m secretly racing him from my lane 

He wins each time. What a lousy game

One older lady tells me she’s slow 

I share my lane with her, tell her I’d never know 

I tread back and forth 

One time, just north – on the deep end – there was a great splash 

A young person in a blue t-shirt crashed into the water 

The lifeguard at the other end (nor anybody else) was bothered

The one at the shallow end was in fact asleep

Turns out that’s how the one at the deep end fell in 

There’s something about staring at people swimmin’

It’ll make you fall asleep

So at night I imagine I’m going deep

And that all my friends with artificial joints contend 

Underneath there’s no sound 

It’s flying upside down

The world disappears 

There’s no shrill children’s screams in my ears 

Muscles relax, joints are untaxed

Frontstroke or on my back 

No one will judge 

Not even the IronMan guy

I’ve fallen in love with the pool 

Just like the lifeguard who fell in 

At least we all know how to swim

Keep moving / treading is the rule