Stay Divided
Summer's Challenge: Flipping Memories by the Lakeside
Lyrics
My brother graduated college in spring,
Reflecting on the speaker's brother's graduation from college in spring
and we were both living back home in the town we were raised in
Living together back home in their hometown for the summer
for the summer
Setting the scene for the events to follow
One afternoon, we went swimming on the lake across the street
Describing an afternoon of swimming on a lake with friends
with a couple of friends
Emphasizing the communal nature of the activity
by the house where my roommate my freshman year grew up
Mentioning the location tied to the speaker's freshman year roommate
On a whim or a dare,
Expressing a spontaneous decision or challenge
we decided to see if we could try and flip his parents' 300 pound swim raft
Attempting to flip a heavy swim raft that belongs to a friend's parents
The four of us stood at each corner like they were the ends of the earth
Depicting the four participants positioning themselves at each corner of the raft
and began to rock the vessel back and forth
Initiating the action of rocking the vessel back and forth
It moved slow, as if its body ached from old age
Describing the slow movement of the raft, suggesting its age
then stood up like a skyscraper before crashing back to earth,
Portraying the raft standing up before crashing back down
scattering us like debris
Comparing the scattering of the participants to debris
We plunged into the water like stones
Depicting the participants plunging into the water like stones
My brother and Dan surfaced first,
Highlighting the speaker's brother and a friend surfacing first
and probably aged a year for every second
Suggesting the intense experience caused a perceptible aging
before Pat and I came back up
Noting the delayed resurfacing of the speaker and another friend
We couldn't flip it back over,
Expressing the inability to flip the raft back over
so it just sat there like a turtle stuck on its shell
Depicting the stranded raft in the water, drawing a comparison to a turtle stuck on its shell
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