Stay Divided

My brother graduated college in spring
And we were both living back home
In the town we were raised in
For the summer

One afternoon, we went swimming
On the lake across the street
With a couple of friends
By the house where my roommate my freshman year grew up

On a whim or a dare
We decided to see if we could try and flip
His parents' 300 pound swim raft
The four of us stood at each corner
Like they were the ends of the earth

And began to rock the vessel back and forth
It moved slow, as if it's body ached from old age
Then stood up like a skyscraper
Before crashing back to earth, scattering us like debris
We plunged into the water like stones

My brother and Dan surfaced first
And probably aged a year for every second
Before Pat and I came back up
We couldn't flip it back over
So it just sat there like a turtle stuck on it's shell