Humbleman

Michael Bazzett


 

He aspired to imitate Jesus
as a model of humility. This
proved to be complicated.

But he persevered,
acquiring the pseudonym
Humbleman the Lesser,

and he captained the nation
in the humility Olympics
in Gståad in 1934,

where the podium was
a ditch and the winner
descended the stairs 

until he disappeared.

 

2

You may recall
he won five events

and was so riven
with hot-faced shame

he held his medals
defiantly aloft

until nervous officials
declared them rescinded,

permanently uncarving
his anonymous fame

from a mountain face
that does not exist.