Drowning Girls

you never forget your first gasp of breath

when you bob up and down in water blue,

till you think you have a first glimpse of death

and sheer pain in your chest so sharp and true.

*

no one heard your shrill call from the deep pool

even as your arms flailed above your head,

wishing swimming had been taught at your school,

while hope began to hang by a sole thread.

*

but somehow the panic began to flee,

your legs kicking for dear life and each chance,

until you began to stroke to break free,

the moment lived as if you were in trance.

*

gripping the edge felt like grasping your life

and like you'd evaded your greatest strife.