Real Swimming

I saw him in the distance, as the train went speeding by,

A shivery little fellow standing in the sun to dry.

And a little pile of clothing very near him I could see:

He was owner of a gladness that had once belonged to me.

I have shivered as he shivered, I have dried the way he dried,

I've stood naked in God's sunshine with my garments at my side;

And I thought as I beheld him, of the many weary men

Who would like to go in swimming as a little boy again.

I saw him scarce a moment, yet I knew his lips were blue

And I knew his teeth were chattering just as mine were wont to do;

And I knew his merry playmates in the pond were splashing still;

I could tell how much he envied all the boys that never chill;

And throughout that lonesome journey, I kept living o'er and o'er

The joys of going swimming when no bathing suits we wore;

I was with that little fellow, standing chattering in the sun;

I was sharing in his shivers and a partner of his fun.

Back to me there came the pictures that I never shall forget

When I dared not travel homewards if my shock of hair was wet,

When I did my brief undressing under fine and friendly trees

In the days before convention rigged us up in b. v. d's.

And I dived for stones and metal on the mill pond's muddy floor,

Then stood naked in the sunshine till my blood grew warm once more.

I was back again, a youngster, in those golden days of old,

When my teeth were wont to chatter and my lips were blue with cold.