No Swimming

The sign says no swimming.

The little man doing laps has a great red line drawn through his head.

You feel the cold water on your chest and wonder how you got here.

Was it the burning hot arguments with people you used to love?

Or maybe the icy cool rejection from the ones you thought had your back?

Did you walk here, in the midst of the summer haze?

Did you drive here, in the sting of the winter chill?

So many questions filter through your head.

You remember, you think, the way the moon looked outside.

It was brighter than ever, and impossibly white.

Something surely happened, there’s a reason you’re here.

Though you can’t quite remember if it was pain or success.

The sign says no swimming.

You’re in up to your neck.

Maybe it’s okay to sink back and rest.