The True Vyne

The Swimming Lesson

Feeling the icy kick, the endless waves
Reaching around my life, I moved my arms
And coughed, and in the end saw land.

Somebody, I suppose,
Remembering the medieval maxim,
Had tossed me in,
Had wanted me to learn to swim,
Not knowing that none of us, who ever came back
From that long lonely fall and frenzied rising,
Ever learned anything at all
About swimming, but only
How to put off, one by one,
Dreams and pity, love and grace,

--How to survive in any place.

Mary Oliver


My mood is melancholy today. I'm wanting to reach one of my son's heart, and I just can't seem to find it. Oh, God, it's got to be there somewhere under all those hard glares and sighs of disgust. But where? How did I lose the path?

For me, parenting seems to be like the first swim lesson, only it's as succession of new and sometimes frightening first dives and frantic rising all along the way.