I drowned with the skills only a swimmer has

Sinking deeper and deeper

Into what I know have come to know as

The desire to fit in

An all consuming current

A riptide that pulls me under

Leaves me gasping for air

Suffocates me with the ways of others

I thought I’d been swept out to far

But I could never lose myself completely

To the powerful, persuasive sea of people

I might swim with the current

But I dare to go horizontal

Leaving swimming deeper for those who are long gone

Eventually the pull lessened

My breath came back, as did I, for

I have saved myself with the skills only a swimmer has