If you are a trained swimmer as I have been, the image of treading water is not a desperate image. Swimmers are taught to tread water first thing as the fundamental step in the mastery of the water environment, right up there with the ability to float in still water. The central teaching concerning treading water is to use as little energy as possible at any given moment. I was a life guard and swimming instructor at one point in high school but I did not last long in that endeavor.
Treading water is instinctive to most animals. It is a fact that four footed creatures can swim without training up to it. We are bipeds. This means we have to be taught to swim for the most part, but also that we can excel at it.
Ticket To Hereafter
I have tossed salads
but I'm not the first master
of onions and eggs.
It is not like that.
I shall hold my own, likely
unmoved, clear sighted.
I told you, meant it.
My thews are still flexed and full
of magic and blood,
even though I'm of age
and gray. My eyes are dimming
and my time is short.
They all chased me once,
no longer. I tread water
near the final drain.
December 29, 2010 5:14 PM
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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.