Boots made for Swimming

My dad was saying
(while I was crying, and he was drinking):

I was out of the boat, in the water, and my boots were heavy.
And I was sinking down
and sinking down
and sinking down
and thinking, all the way down,
maybe this is the right answer.

Maybe things will be better
inside this rocky river
with the lures and hooks and the fishes.
Maybe my tackle box will follow me down
and I won't have to go back up. Ever.

And it was dark, he said (or maybe I just thought he did; you know
how memory can be). And that was almost the end, he said,
sinking down and thinking down in heavy fisherman's boots.
And then I thought of you.

And I swam up, with all the force I had,
I swam up.