Joy & Love
(1936 – 1969 AD)
sunbathers sunbathe
swimmers don’t swim
except for one silly fool
in a clear patch of water
swept clean by the current
towed under by the undertow
swimmer fights back
goes against the flow
tires so swiftly
raises his arms
throws up goes under
comes up throws up
a beach ball thrown
misses the target
kicked with more accuracy
a soccer ball heavier
lands by his side
he grasps it hangs on
kicking more slowly
sun-bathers sprint
across sand to the shore
linked hands a life-line
reaching out through the waves
to rescue the swimmer
no longer fighting back
summer-sun kisses
resuscitation
sun-bathers victorious
this great chain of being
restoring humanity
sweet victory of man
rogermoorepoet 
These poems are wonderful, Roger. Loved the catch-and-release feeling of this one. The bracketing of the sentences in the first verse, feeling blocked in, contained, no escape; dominance of the the tide’s rhythm over the rhythm of life; triumphant reversal of sunbathers from passive to active and swimmer from active to passive; image of the life-line of hands (life-line in a hand); summer-sun kisses like alpha wolf correcting a rebel from the hunting pack and after the kill, licking him back into the fold. Ending in such grace and comfort. Amazing start to my day. Thank you!
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Thank you, Cathy: your comment makes a wonderful start to my day too. Arthur Lovejoy wrote The Great Chain of Being in 1936. It demonstrated the links between human beings and the hierarchical structure of their world, compared to that of the animal kingdom. The next time I saw that gentleman at the beach, he was sitting on a deck chair, with his back to the sea!
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Some lovely word play in this one, Roger.
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Thanks, Colin. These new poems have been great fun. Given m a new spirit of verbal and temporal adventure. Plus ca change …
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