Just Folks

Real Swimming

          I saw him in the distance, as the train went speeding by,
          A shivery little fellow standing in the sun to dry.
          And a little pile of clothing very near him I could see:
          He was owner of a gladness that had once belonged to me.
          I have shivered as he shivered, I have dried the way he dried,
          I've stood naked in God's sunshine with my garments at my side;
          And I thought as I beheld him, of the many weary men
          Who would like to go in swimming as a little boy again.

          I saw him scarce a moment, yet I knew his lips were blue
          And I knew his teeth were chattering just as mine were wont to do;
          And I knew his merry playmates in the pond were splashing still;
          I could tell how much he envied all the boys that never chill;
          And throughout that lonesome journey, I kept living o'er and o'er
          The joys of going swimming when no bathing suits we wore;
          I was with that little fellow, standing chattering in the sun;
          I was sharing in his shivers and a partner of his fun.

          Back to me there came the pictures that I never shall forget
          When I dared not travel homewards if my shock of hair was wet,
          When I did my brief undressing under fine and friendly trees
          In the days before convention rigged us up in b.v.d's.
          And I dived for stones and metal on the mill pond's muddy floor,
          Then stood naked in the sunshine till my blood grew warm once more.
          I was back again, a youngster, in those golden days of old,
          When my teeth were wont to chatter and my lips were blue with cold.