"Harry Houdini Extricates Himself"

                         Harry Houdini Extricates Himself

Harry Houdini, submerged under water,

 has wrapped himself in rusty old chains

enclosed in  what looks like a bulletproof box.

Family and friends and naysayers, too,

watch the calm surface and think of  the struggle below.

They look at their watches and  whisper together,

then he bursts through the surface, his hands in the air.

“ I’m free!” he shouts and we breathe his relief

as well as our own.  We turn to go home

dragging the chains we wore to the shore

 when we recall he put himself in a terrible  fix,

 but  then,

by God,

 he got out of it.