Dive in

Today I went 'a swimming
Through an written, waving ocean
The titles I was skimming
Unfamiliar with commotion

So up and down the rows I took
Alphabetical laps
And soon I found a familiar book
Where my favorite poem entraps

And so, my hands clenched on to
The cover, red and fading
The floatation of a name I knew
In my swimming, it was aiding

And there in those words, I coasted
A lazy survival swim
My mind could find current's end
And again I would begin

But waves or something else choked me
And water filled my throat
My hands, they shook and suddenly
I dropped my comfortable boat

The pages spilled and opened to
A poem I'd never read
The unfamiliar water
In which I knew not how to tred

Splashing around in a deeper grove
Of my own ignorance
I tried to keep my head above
The waves so rigorous

But soon my mind was swallowed by
The new words' undertow
Pulled under, I was drowning, my
Body sunk in new-to-know

And when I stood, ready to go
For it was half past five
I realized all the things I'd know
If I would only think to dive