Brave Women 5 - Yusra Mardini, Olympic Swimmer Poem by Paul Warren

On the 9th August in Rio at the 2016 Olympic Games meet
Yusra Mardini swum in the 100 metre butterfly heat
She didn't qualify that time to progress in the race
But swimming for the Refugee team was her only pace

Early last year when fleeing terrorists in the Syrian country
She took to an overcrowded boat escaping in the Aegean Sea
When the boat engine failed to work and stopped dead in the sea
With her sister and another she jumped to save them in their flee

With the help of the other women swimming in the water together
They towed the boat of terrified refugees through to safety there
And all she had to say about that saving swim with a little smile
You know, 'It would be a shame to drown because I can swim a mile.'

© Paul Warren Poetry