Blub blubub* (* Hi swimmer)
If you could have one hour - One hour to put the world on hold - An hour-long free pass to do whatever you want - Something that would calm you down, or give you energy, or both - What would you do?
Swimming would be very high on my list, perhaps the highest, depending on when you ask.
I miss being under water.
I miss being weightless.
I miss focusing on the rhythm of strokes and breathing - one, two, breathe, one, two, breathe.
I miss how sounds are softened, sometimes,
when the pool is quiet, and the only sounds are
splashing water,
breathing,
the soft rumble of water moving past you,
or you moving past water.
I miss feeling immersed.
I miss feeling carried.
I miss feeling that everything is okay, if you just keep counting, and breathing, and turning, and counting, and breathing.
I miss feeling powerful, finding a way to thrust forward using only your limbs in something as fleeting and fluid as water.
I miss being me, swimming.
I miss losing me, swimming.
I miss swimming.
And all the other feelings, that are best expressed, for now, in the Dutch poem by Paul Snoek below.
Looking forward to meet you under water, someday.
Nathalie
Een zwemmer is een ruiter
Zwemmen is losbandig slapen in spartelend water,
is liefhebben met elke nog bruikbare porie,
is eindeloos vrij zijn en inwendig zegevieren.
En zwemmen is de eenzaamheid betasten met vingers,
is met armen en benen aloude geheimen vertellen
aan het altijd allesbegrijpende water.
Ik moet bekennen dat ik gek ben van water.
Want in het water adem ik water
word ik een schepper die zijn schepping omhelst,
en in het water kan men nooit geheel alleen zijn
en toch nog eenzaam blijven.
Zwemmen is een beetje bijna heilig zijn.
Paul Snoek
uit de bundel Hercules. Gedichten
Brussel: Manteau (1960)
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