Swimming: Wonder

When I swim, I look into the water

and wonder where I am.

I cannot see my shadow.

It should be there, my movements 

silhouetted below me, but the surface 

of the water reflects it back. 

Broken up by the ripples, my image

is diffused, leaving me to float

and to move in a space where I can have

 the shape I want.

I swim to transform myself into the person

I want to be. Each day I dive into the pool 

the light reflects my shadow back into the air, 

disjointed and incomplete. 

It is up to me to reassemble its form; 

my coaches guide me, but I am the one

who determines how hard I want to work 

and, when I climb out of the pool in the evening, 

the wet shards fall away, piece by piece,

back into the pool as I select the ones 

I want to recreate my whole.