Swimming

Swimming

My friend Kevin
Is twenty four years old
And doesn’t know
How to swim.

So last summer
I tried to teach him
After hours
At the beach.

He didn’t want
To be embarrassed
By having people
See him flail around.

It was a bad idea
To wait for everyone
To leave
The beach area.

The lifeguards weren’t there to save him when a wave
Knocked him off my grip and swept him out passed where I could do anything.

I can still hear his exact words from last spring
Confidentially asking me, “Can you teach me how to swim this summer?”

And then when summer came gurgling, “Please… don’t let me drown…”