Just Jump

I'm looking into the water
It is very deep

People go in
Gently lowering themselves
Getting used to the depth
And the feel
Of the water

I watch these people
They go slowly
Clinging to the edge
And staring
Terrified
At the bottom of it all
Afraid they might be down there themselves
Before too long

Eventually they are all the way in
They gasp
Tread water quickly
Keeping their head above
Before finally letting go of the edge

They stay close
Still unsure
And still too scared

Finally they swim further out
They smile
And splash
And begin to have fun

But at that moment
Their time is up
They must leave the water
They can never go back

I turn my gaze to the others
They look at the water
Consider it
Then walk to the diving board
And jump right in

They're scared too
You can see it as they walk to the edge
And look down

Jumping in has risks
There is no way to test the water
For its strength
Or depth
The water goes over your head
It's too late to turn back

But they close their eyes
Before they can turn back
And leap

They are engulfed
But before too long
They come up
Smiling

They faced the water
Head on
And because of that
They overcame their fear
Faster than if they had timidly lowered themselves

These people quickly swim out to the middle
They splash
They smile
While the others are still just climbing in
Slowly but surely

I watch this from the side
Before walking towards the diving board

Our time in the pool is limited
I don't want to spend it gradually getting in
Afraid the whole time
I would rather jump

After all
All I have to lose
Is time