The water swims around the body,
the eddies nearby around,
Next lane girl let's presume teases,
lying on her back,
just out of the pool,
her shapely legs crossed,
stretched up in air;
her friend's kittenish comment
Floats to the mind conditioned to avoid the beholding sight,
the goggled eyes cannot keep away,
chaotic eddies in the brain I bet,
Pushing away from the wall gets easier as they leave,
discounting the noises in the brain,
When the eddies settle for five seconds,
-- the water, the breath, the bubbles,
and the taut, relaxed body is all there is --
and come back again.
Out of the water,
familiar faces from the pool recede away like a short tide,
the summery warmth outside agrees as if on a cool beach,
Prompts a longer route back,
cheers, shout-out to swimming
in the surrounding glory.
The hospital campus arrives on the right bank as expected,
Tears choking the obese woman on phone,
Cigarette smoke drowning softly nearby
a man's head with a leg on cast,
-- swimming out for a while for him --
& others' busy getting cured & curing.
A swallow glides above in its water,
straight towards the west sun,
Hospitals left behind soon,
moving on,
soon in a sea of youth,
Queens & Champs of the present,
in flow to their final exams this week,
with utmost seriousness or without.
---------------
University of Kentucky Campus, Lexington,
