If he were on vacation..

If he were on vacation in Florida as a kid
and saw a girl drowning in a pool,
wondered, in the time standing still,
“Why isn’t anyone doing anything?
Where are her parents?
How can all the adults carry on laughing,
slapping lotions, reading books?”
and in the time it takes afterwards,
had he dived in and pulled
her rag doll body off the bottom, heaved her
onto the steps with his arms around her belly,
smacked her on the back, watched her cough up water,
held her there until she looked him in the eyes,
and they climbed out, she to her family, he to his,
clothes dripping in a hotel room,
to get what he got for making the carpet wet,
the bathroom a mess, his clothes wrecked,
would he never again dive? Make it a rule,
if he were on vacation and saw a girl
drowning in a pool?

http://poetry-sarongs.blogspot.com/