Sink Or Swim

Let's go down to the beaches

And run from the edge of the sea

See what the movement teaches

A frail sense of autonomy

Cold toes in the water

Two steps from freezing feet

Feel the strength as you go in deeper

And the cold consistency

And if there's anyone watching

You dare not turn around

Till your arms are doing the clutching

As your feet leave the ground

Control or capitulation

A new sense of affinity

Having lost all the hesitation

But back there it was just the sea

Just a blue mass on the postcards

Just a place to race the boats

Just a waveline on the blackboard

And now see how long the illusion float

With risk co-ordination

Swim half as far as you can

We lose control of the situation

When we think we've got it all pre-planned

Back in dead-air building blocks

We lose the urge to take a risk

And calmly change our sandy socks

Wishing there was more that this

Stuck in these concrete houses

We dry out in the heat

Invent the worst excuses

To stay there permanently

Too many regulations

Too many rituals

The biggest risk was taken

Deep-ending in the swimming pool

The structured sand and water

Reflects our structures lives

We swim but never further

Than the constraints of our minds

Let's get back to the beaches

Wider than a postcard

And run straight into the sea

Longer than a holiday

That's what the movement teaches

Sink or swim spontaneity

You'll see what citizen can be

If we recall the deep blue sea

That evolved our weary brains

Getting shrunk from too much stress

We either get back into swimming

Or we sink into a mess!