Free Fall

The Swimmer

Swimming in an icy channel
Leaves the limbs buzzing
And the head clear and sharp
And the toes black and clacking.
The swimmer feels nothing and
Everything, all at once.
Especially the fuzzy buzzing filling frozen veins.
And their head feels sharp. And buzzy...
Cold thoughts race through a cold head;
No room for warmth or kind.
But the heart still pumps warm blood through
A cold, cold, cold, body, cold.
And buzzing, the swimmer is buzzing,
But cold.
And the swimmer is numb, black-toe-numb.
Pronounce-the-"b"-numb.
Why does the heart pump warm blood
Just to have it freeze before it reaches
The black toes or the black fingers or the black mind?
And the swimmer feels numb.
And the swimmer can't move.
Because they are cold, and buzzing, and numb.