I do the same workout every time I swim. Same distance, same strokes, same order. The first third is spent finding my rhythm. The last two-thirds are on the clock with every second tracked. This poem tries to capture the experience.
The Sublime Comfort of Sameness
Every stroke, the same
The same, the same
Every breath, the same
The same, the same
Every turn, the same
The same, the same
The numbing rhythm of sameness
The numbing rhythm of sameness
The numbing comfort of sameness
All moments are one moment
All moments are the same moment
The sameness of the moments suspends time
The sameness of the moments monotonous
The sameness of the moments sublime
Sublime of body
Sublime of mind
The sublime comfort of sameness
The clock
The clock
The interval constant
The rhythm the same
The same
The same
The clock is constant, monotonous, the same
The sameness sublime
The clock
The clock
The interval changed
A second lost
A second lost!
Something changed
But what?
Sameness changed
But why?
The body’s rhythm of sameness gone
The mind’s comfort of sameness lost
Curiosity, attentiveness, interest
And wonder, wonder, wonder
The body, the puzzle
Every stroke reviewed
Every breath assessed
Every turn probed
Every stroke different
Every breath fresh
Every turn new
The differences subtle
Nuanced
Beguiling
A change made
A change?
A return?
A return to sameness
Or growth, refinement, improvement?
A second gained
A second gained!
Sameness restored?
Or improvement earned?
Seconds gained
Seconds lost
The familiar challenge of effort unrewarded
The exhilarating satisfaction of improvement
All fleeting, all forever
All begotten from sameness
The sameness of the start
The sameness of the distance
The sameness of the finish
The sameness of the routine
The experience always unique, always sublime, always routine
Like a wave perfectly formed, emerging and returning, from and to, sameness.
RLR 07132021