You dove off the dock
without a life jacket
and then you asked to swim
all the way back to the beach
and I said
are you sure
because you’d never done it before
but then I jumped in
and swam beside you
holding your life jacket
in case you needed it.
The ocean felt so much deeper
and the beach felt miles away
and I played out the endings
in a million ways
whales
heart attacks
speedboats.
When you could finally
touch the bottom
you looked at me
and what I said was
I’m so proud of you
but as I lay on the hot black rocks
I realized I was just as proud of myself
for letting you go.