The Swimming Pool

The sun ...
was all dry heat and glare


The type ...
that reminds you of deserts and iguanas


While the tiles ...
baked like rolls of square biscuits


Burning my feet
ever so slightly,
as I tread my way across them


Squinting my eyes involuntarily,
I cast my slitted gaze
upon the prize I had came for...


It shone...
and sparkled and shimmered with promise


Crystal clear but yet
constantly in motion..


Playfully reflecting facets of light
that the adoring sun besotted upon it


Beckoning me..


One of the mysteries of human nature
is our attraction to precious stones..


And this one shown like liquid azure
Alluring like a siren's song ..


I slipped into it...
It was deliciously cool
Just as I had expected


Like an earnest lover..
it laps me up
engulfing me in its icy embrace


With a sigh of relief ...
I released myself to its adulation
Hopping that it will sooth my sorrows..


Inside that water
lost in a vast expense of blue
Intensifying into the distance


Indigo lane markings purposefully led the way
With the reassurance that it will being me safely
to the opposite end..


I kept to the blue lane markings as I swam
Knowing that if there is nothing in the world I can depend on
I can still depend on those faithful blue markings


If only life was as simple


And swam with vigour I did
Lap after lap


Trying my hardest to wash away the sorrow
To leave my tears like a trail of breadcrumbs
Into the oblivion of blue


Hoping against hope that psychical fatigue
Will numified all emotions


With each stroke ..
I could feel the pain being pushed away


And yet when I surface to gasp for air..
The waters lap back onto me,
surging back the tide of sorrow
with equal strength that i pushed it away


Thus.. the rhythmic cycle continued


Perhaps that is life
As are the laws of physics for that matter..
With each force
There is an equal and opposite reaction


It will never be possible to push away your pain
you can only absorb it


And in doing so
Allowing a space for happiness to enter as well...
With time.


As i glance at the clock to see the time
Its sameness provoked me


It could have been a clock in any swimming complex
from Bishan to Jurong to Chua Chu Kang


Why is it that all the clocks have to be the same
And the walls the same boring neutral shades
And the lifeguards..the same impassive air
Hiding behind mirrored glasses


But the one sameness that i cannot fault
Is the unobstructed view of the sky they provide


In that instant ..
With each breath I take
As I gazed up into the bright Tiffany-blue sky
Before falling back into the turquoise water for the next stroke
It almost seem that in my state of suspension
I am actually flying


Although air traffic is pretty heavy
as many blurred faces pushed past me..
entering my personal space
creating un-welcomed ripples in my path of flight


And I wonder
why are all these people here...


Do they seek the same sort of release as I did?


Many come in solitude
While others come in 2s and 3s
Laughingly splashing..
furtively talking..


What propels people to want to come
On a lazy Sunday afternoon
To a soulless public swimming pool


What are their thoughts
Their hopes
Their dreams
Their fears


Perhaps I lay submerged in a whirlpool of emotions
Contributed by each and every one who touched its depths


But does it care
I wondered
As i dripped my way out
Leaving small puddles of itself
to dry up mournfully in the sun


While it lay impassive
To the little crumb of sorrow I left behind
Deep in its aquamarine belly..


The Swimming Pool