COUNTERPOINTS: TWO SWIMMING LESSONS

 

COUNTERPOINTS: TWO SWIMMING LESSONS

 

1. IN HER TIME: A SWIMMING LESSON

(For Marie Clementine)

 

Will you grow older than these lessons,

Mon chère? Will you gather pictures
Like dada-abuelo peppers and papers
His dusty study with his world’s magic?

Papa will no doubt pin this on his wall,

I wager all my left-over memories,
Mama, too, will: it is this lesson of love
and daring we will always remember.

 “Go, chère, find your stride and swim,

Kick and swim, paddle and swim, Go!
No dreads, brave girl, this is your show:
Swing your arms, our happy mermaid!”

There can only be joy with your striving,
Not after the wind, but for gentle grace,

The courage you must find while weaving
Through ripples, eddying smile on your face.
 

2. IN OLDER TIMES: A SWIMMING LESSON

(For Father)

How much of those happy times

would you bring back, like the waves
ebb but must always rush back?

It is the sea that returns you intact

into my now empty days, windy days,
your laughter always a raw memory.

You threw me into those restless

waves, cried out a challenge: Swim!
Kick hard, swing your arms! Swim!

And I never stopped, not for hurts,

not for lost dreams, nor for losses.
You warned me never ever to cry.

---ALBERT B. CASUGA

Mississauga, October 26, 2014