Cold wet toes hug the sandpaper edge

But the plastic and rusted beams buckle and creak
Everything's swaying, the pool and the sky
Your hands both are shaking and you wonder why
You're just like they said you would be.
You lift you foot trying to face off this dread
Inching back, and hanging your head from the shame,
as the last time you thought you were brave.
Then you freeze, and you frown; All the kids gathered on the ground
But your mom, shouting out from the shade of the sides
and a stubborn resolve not to walk to the ground
but to swim! And you struggle back up to the top
A sniffle, slight stumble, the bending of knees,
But you don't!
A splash is your prize
But you jumped off the diving board.
And now you can do it again.