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Crossing the Bar
Accepted Manuscript Title: Crossing the Bar: (daily at the pool) Author: J. Barrie Shepherd PII: DOI: Reference:
S1064-7481(17)30004-0 http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.01.004 AMGP 762
To appear in:
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Please cite this article as: J. Barrie Shepherd, Crossing the Bar: (daily at the pool), The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2017), http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.01.004. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Crossing The Bar (daily at the pool)
I am no longer diving; unwilling anymore to risk this way-too-well-worn frame to sudden impact upon these friable bones. These days I slip into the water from the bottom of the steps, just as, some years ago now, I slid out from other, even friendlier waters and filled my new-formed lungs with resonating air.
Yet, even so, this smooth transition, this sweeping forward into instant weightlessness, this liquid sweet caress along my wrinkled flesh, brings such relief, such sudden and complete release, I long to hold its momentary touch forever, or at least Until tomorrow’s earliest plunge. A rehearsal – might it be? – for that eventual putting off, and pushing out.
J. Barrie Shepherd 10/14
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S1064-7481(17)30004-0 http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.01.004 AMGP 762
To appear in:
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Please cite this article as: J. Barrie Shepherd, Crossing the Bar: (daily at the pool), The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2017), http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.01.004. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Crossing The Bar (daily at the pool)
I am no longer diving; unwilling anymore to risk this way-too-well-worn frame to sudden impact upon these friable bones. These days I slip into the water from the bottom of the steps, just as, some years ago now, I slid out from other, even friendlier waters and filled my new-formed lungs with resonating air.
Yet, even so, this smooth transition, this sweeping forward into instant weightlessness, this liquid sweet caress along my wrinkled flesh, brings such relief, such sudden and complete release, I long to hold its momentary touch forever, or at least Until tomorrow’s earliest plunge. A rehearsal – might it be? – for that eventual putting off, and pushing out.
J. Barrie Shepherd 10/14
Page 1 of 2
Page 2 of 2