A new century of enlightenment beckoned

The age of women’s suffrage had begun,

A young girl born in downtown New York,

Unaware of the greatness soon to be won

 

Eight kicks, one stroke, the eight-beat crawl.

Propelled like a torpedo down the lane

World and national records blown from the water

Seven in one afternoon. This was her domain.

 

Paris, nineteen twenty-four, Olympic Games

Two bronze, one gold, a sparkling gem

Team USA’s Jane, to Johnny Tarzan

Yet still to be America’s crème de la crème

 

Buoyed by success. In nineteen twenty-five’

She looked to swim the English channel

Miles of invitingly cold choppy water

But an entry to womankind's glorious annals

 

Failed then, but not derailed from destiny

Though there were widespread misgivings and doubt

Returning to France in ‘twenty-six’

Hoping for a sucker punch, in the second bout,

 

Greased up, greased down, from head to ground,

She entered the infamous Dover Strait,

Support ship following, reporters on board

There was no chance to fail. Fate couldn't wait

 

Seven a.m, August the sixth, calm waters

Stepping into the surf, a determined Gertrude,

Enthusiastic, but now with cold feet

She must display her courage and fortitude

 

Gertrude ploughed through the water 

The sky above darkened and deteriorated. 

Halfway, the seas became so choppy 

Pulling her out was proposed and debated. 

 

The wind screamed at over twenty knots, 

Crested waves swelled more than six feet, 

A constant unending rain persisted

Cameras stopped clicking, admitting defeat 

 

The storm pushed her off course

She battled hard against the tide

No one expected any woman would

attempt the channel swim and survive.

 

Finally, feet touched on the English shore

Kingsdown Beach, east of Dover

The first woman to ever succeed

She’d swum into history, her wait was over

 

Ironically, the first man sent to greet her

was not there to offer his congratulations,

He wanted a passport before she could land

Gertrude fell foul of English immigration 

 

She hadn’t swum the measured twenty-one miles 

Buffeted westward, she had swum thirty-five

Only the fifth person to have successfully achieve

What many others had tried, but had sadly died

 

Gertrude swam in the quickest time ever

Two hours faster than the fastest man

Her record was intact till the nineteen fifties

‘The weakest sex’ phrase, now flushed down the pan

 

Ships blared horns upon her arrival home

‘Planes overhead dropped petals of flowers

Calvin Coolidge dubbed her ‘America’s best girl’

‘‘An inspiration to us all.’’ Trudy’s finest hour 

 

Two million cheerers, a raucous crowd.

Lined Manhattans ‘Canyon of Heroes’

The USA took Trudy to their hearts 

An outpouring of love, raining Cupid arrows

 

‘‘I always just do the best I can,’’ Trudy remarked 

‘‘As easily as I breathe or walk, I swim.’’ 

‘‘We were all water animals once upon a time’’

‘‘The ocean, our first home — let’s dive back in.”