One day I was waiting for my peers up in the pool

And I thought deeply: “What have I got to lose?”

For breathing underwater is simply breathing in;

You’ll obtain oxygen as long as it’s inhaled within.

Well I breathed in and gulped it down;

My eyes widened with fear

Why was the water rushing in?

Where was the oxygen?

I climbed back up and coughed it out

Gagging as I squatted

Why did I ever think that I could

Breathe Underwater?

Why did I think,

Why did I think,

I could breathe underwater?

Fast forward now I see

Why I was stupid and naive

The water doesn’t part for me

I’m no Moses- there’s no Red Sea.

And daily the water’s pouring in

Luckily I learned to swim

So for now I’m afloat, but soon, I know,

A wave will take me with it.

Why do I think I can keep the notion

Of the water’s sweet devotion?

I keep trying but it’s so hard to breathe

When my enemy seems to be the ocean.

I try to climb back up and cough it out

Gag and squat out my slaughter

Gosh, why did I ever think that I could

Breathe Underwater?

Shapes above and pretty stones and 

Lifeguards yelling, “Fast!”

I know how to swim, but why fight it?

The water will get me at last.

The air I sought, I’ll never find, but hey,

At least I tried.

Clearly I’ll swim in this pool of the drowned 

For the rest of my submerged life.