Baptism
By Linda A. Cronin
Three times a week, I come to the
pool
at Children’s Specialized
Hospital to
exercise.
Even in the middle of winter, the
warm,
moist air
reminds me of the humid days of
summer.
Since
I’m unable to descend the
ladder or
to walk on land,
when I am ready Pam transfers me
to a
stretcher
which is lifted out over the pool
then
lowered gently
into the water where Sue stands
ready
to release me.
I sink into the pool, warm as a bath, until only
my head remains above the surface,
bobbing.
I relax, taking a deep breath. My
arms
rise,
levitate like a leaf in a pond,
lift from my sides where they hang,
waiting. My legs awaken, bend and
straighten
with a freedom absent on land.
Here,
in the water, gravity melts,
releases
its pull on my limbs, no longer
wrestling me
to the ground. The arthritis that
greets me each day
frees me from its grip. Here, for
thirty
minutes, I’m free to play
with the
other kids,
damaged like I am. Free to walk
and
swim.
To wave my arms and kick my legs
without
the start and stop of pain,
without the
stutters
of bone catching on bone. The
ghost of
my past self
rediscovers motion, a sensation
slipping farther
into the mist of yesterday. When
the
therapist
signals the session’s end, I
take a
deep breath
then arch my back and dive under
the water, skim across the
checkered
tiles
of the pool floor, drinking in the
freedom,
a balloon drifting in the breeze.
I
store
the sensation of floating where
motion
does not equal pain. I want to
drink
in this feeling, knowing it must
last
until I am baptized again.
“Baptism” was first
published in
Linda A. Cronin’s new collection of poems, Dream Bones
(WordTech Editions). She is a poet, editor and writer who often
writes
freelance articles on health and wellness for magazines. She has
received a fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center.
Herwhose work has appeared in literary magazines such as The
Paterson Literary Review, Wordgathering, The Journal of
New Jersey Poets, The Healing Muse, Rattle, and
Kaleidoscope. For more information on Linda and
Dream Bones go to www.lindacronin.net.
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