Vermont is lovely in the spring
A place to camp and bike
Many come and play there
Or take to the trails and hike
Some come to kayak
On the rivers when they’re full
The Middlebury flows with the best of them
Down from Ripton in the hills
A student at the college
He came from another state
Tried the rocks and eddies
Of the Middlebury in full spate
There’s a waterfall upstream
Where Route 115 crosses the flow
He bore down, all unaware
That over the edge he’d go
He landed wrong side up
In the whirlpool below the falls
He circled round and round
And couldn’t escape at all
A motorist stopped, called the police
They called the fire and rescue
All of them stood above the pool
But there was nothing they could do
The walls were too steep, the curve too tight
The whirlpool circled too fast
That kayak with its grim load
Was there when a week had passed
The roaring torrent, the rocky pool
Where the kayak still swirled
Became familiar to millions
As it was broadcast around the world
Eventually they ended the agony
When a chopper lifted it out
But his parents would park by the pool all day
And watch as it circled about
Sometimes nature defeats us
In the most simple and basic ways
It tears out our heart and displays it
Circling in the whirlpool for days