Today I am posting a poem that is beyond overdue. I owe the last 45 years of my life to a foolish teenage boy named Mark Ludwiczak. Our wiseass teacher, Mr. Tiska, had mocked Mark mercilessly for telling the class he had seen ducks at Niagara Falls in mid-winter. I stood up for Mark, and was ceremoniously invited to join him the following weekend as witness to the Winter Duck Scenario. I nearly died a stupid, fabulous, over-the-falls death that day, saved by Mark's youthful belief that It Just Couldn't Happen. He threw himself down on the thin crust of dirty, iced-over snow and "swam" out to pull me back to safety. He should have made the headlines, but we were more afraid of a lecture than of death. So here it is:
Mark Ludwiczak Saved My Life:
Mark Ludwiczak saved
My life in the winter of
Nineteen sixty nine
We'd gone to Goat Island
Looking for ducks our
Teacher dared us to find
The ducks were there
Scrounging snack bar crumbs
From tourists at Niagara Falls
We celebrated
Vindicated, throwing snowballs
Till we were numb
Then rumbling rapids
Drew me closer to the
Icy island's edge
Mark yelled something
Waving his hands. I wondered,
Was it time to go home?
My feet submerged
In icy sludge, then ankles
Then knees, pulled from below
Slammed down, the river
Insisted I belonged to the falls.
I let go.
My mind accepted
Certain death, a majestic end,
If truth be told
But Mark dropped prone
In the snow, crawling to me,
Till his hands grabbed my wrists
He pulled me out,
I felt nothing, my body
Frozen with fear and ice
Mark ran me back to
The car heater, blasting it hot
Shrinking our fears
The ride home, we laughed
And cried and said "Holy shit!"
A few times.
We never told anyone
What had happened, nor
Spoke of it ourselves
And we never went out
On a date again, though
Mark was my hero
I guess it was too much
For kids to ponder, so we
Left it alone
Today I'm grateful, Mark,
For dragging me back
To this warm, gifted life
Finally acknowledging
True heroism: you risked
Your life for mine
Mark Ludwiczak Saved My Life:
Mark Ludwiczak saved
My life in the winter of
Nineteen sixty nine
We'd gone to Goat Island
Looking for ducks our
Teacher dared us to find
The ducks were there
Scrounging snack bar crumbs
From tourists at Niagara Falls
We celebrated
Vindicated, throwing snowballs
Till we were numb
Then rumbling rapids
Drew me closer to the
Icy island's edge
Mark yelled something
Waving his hands. I wondered,
Was it time to go home?
My feet submerged
In icy sludge, then ankles
Then knees, pulled from below
Slammed down, the river
Insisted I belonged to the falls.
I let go.
My mind accepted
Certain death, a majestic end,
If truth be told
But Mark dropped prone
In the snow, crawling to me,
Till his hands grabbed my wrists
He pulled me out,
I felt nothing, my body
Frozen with fear and ice
Mark ran me back to
The car heater, blasting it hot
Shrinking our fears
The ride home, we laughed
And cried and said "Holy shit!"
A few times.
We never told anyone
What had happened, nor
Spoke of it ourselves
And we never went out
On a date again, though
Mark was my hero
I guess it was too much
For kids to ponder, so we
Left it alone
Today I'm grateful, Mark,
For dragging me back
To this warm, gifted life
Finally acknowledging
True heroism: you risked
Your life for mine
Copyright © 2015, Colleen Faith Dolan. All rights reserved.