To Swim

I find myself at a bend in the river. 
Do I float? 
Stay calm, stay complacent. For what is life but a ride we find ourselves upon?
Or shall I swim
Fight against the currents to feel my muscles strain.
Leave no stream unexplored and no creature unknown. 

Experience life for the journey. Not the destination.
But that is what we miss is it not? The destination.
How else shall we know when it is time to leave the water? 
Is it when our fingers prune from taking too much in.
When we have become so full of life that we ourselves have changed?
Is it after our arms have tired and our legs have quit.
Unable to withstand life's current as it sweeps us to and fro?

Or is it when we at last see our friends,
standing on the shore, waiving and waiting,
ready to welcome us. 
Not yet tired, not yet pruned, but perhaps ready. 
Ready to walk from the water. 
Confident on our feet. Confident in their stride. 

For you have swam far, and you will walk farther still. 
Every journey has a start, but it need not have an end.