Swimming Hopes Sink, but not Really Awfully.

J (nearly 5) elects not to dive – though she can.

J poised to start

Alas, this year was not to be
A triumph in the swim,
Large pool scared little J, you see;
The view she took was dim
Of needing to swim all that way;
At half-way point, two times, said, ‘Nay!’
When she ran out of vim.

R (nearly 8) sets out.

R gathers momentum

R nearly across for the first of 18 lengths she completed before it became apparent she would not make the 40-minute cutoff time.

While older R made brave attempt
At fifteen hundred, timed,
At first, quite speedily she went,
At rate she had been primed,
But then a nasty stitch set in,
Nine hundred, now too slow to win,
So out of pool she climbed.

It is a better thing to try,
And fail, than not at all
Responding to a challenge cry,
Or answering a call,
Next year, the challenges anew,
Are something they know how to do,
And they’ll be standing tall.

© April 2016 Colonialist (WordPress)