Daily Cascade

Diving

Prompt:
Have fun with this sentence-- Excitement replaced fear until the final moment. Poem or story, it's your entry!

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Diving

Mist hovered low
as if the morning
was holding
its breath,
while I stood at the edge of the dock,
my toes curled over splintered wood,
with water stretching before me
like a sheet of quiet glass.

Deep water? What's to be afraid of
but I was...always...of
what I couldn't see
of what might pull me under
in the way a surface hides secrets
like life.

Behind me, I imagined a whisper
"You don't have to do this!"

But what of the times I didn't dare
what of the times I stepped back?

Ahead, the water shimmered
daring me in blue and silver
and my heart knocked against
my ribs, but
not today
"Let caution write its own story."

First step...the hardest...
a shift of weight
the second was easier
like the promise to myself

Then, I ran!

Excitement replaced my fear

and the water rose to meet me
alive, cold, shocking
and I broke through it...

And Wow! I was newly born
surfacing
euphoric...

and I gasped
and grinned at the mist
that was lifting

and at the water still deep
still unknown and unconquered

But so was I.

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True story! Although at my age, I don't dive anymore.

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