Life Preservers

Never when on a boat

because of the risk of drowning,

I heard life preservers

were able to save you from the sea,

but wasn’t willing to take the chance

that was just a myth.

 

Spent time studying the oceans,

learning to sail by books

and speak a sailor’s language,

yet did it all from the safety of land,

sparing myself the concern

over all those images of typhoons and tidal waves,

which froze my feet

anytime I tried to walk on a pier.

 

Someone mentioned that lifeboats

were so very reliable,

only they were still a boat too me

so I just treated it as another fable

nobody could truly validate.

 

How proud I was of my control

always watching the water

from the shore,

not once getting wet or knowing

what magic a mariner might know.

 

Then one day I was asked

why I never learned to swim,

didn’t answer that question,

needed time to invent an reply

as good as the one

for why I didn’t trust life preservers.