Champion Poem by R.A. Burleigh

(For Toby and Colin)

Just north of the estuary of the Reora River
swirling below Hamond Falls by more than a mile
the wide waters meet a long shard of granite
that churns fish and boats into sudden chaos

Only five persons in recorded history have
succeeded in swimming through these heartbreak
currents: four men and an unknown, red shirted girl

By all accounts the girl was young
and at twilight on August 26th she slipped
into the water like a leaf that falls
twisting into calm balance at the end of its descent

Onlookers stopped, dumbfounded with fear
as she stroked toward the pulsing white maelstrom -
only one had the foresight to sprint
the length of the bridge to signal the authorities

But when sirening cars arrived the crowd of nine
silent biographers could only answer
that she had waved to them twice from the opposite bank
and driven off in a beatup blue truck

The next day a story without pictures appeared
in local papers: reward, acclaim, history awaited
the appearance of the young champion
but no one stepped forward; there was no response;
the hero was as silent as the thundering river

But the silence had a pain: the next summer
a robust father of two was drowned
trying to find the soft channel where a quiet youth
had spun and slipped and dodged her way
into nightmare and mythology

RB