Robert Buchanan, Hindenburg Docker

Robert Buchanan waited
on the field, in wet clothes, to dock
the Hindenburg.  No shadow marked
its’ place beneath the heavy
morning sky.  The airship
came close, then, POOF!—

strange enormous light, a bite,
and suffocation.  He wondered,
is this the end?  Heat shoved him,
outran him, jumped down on him.
It was the hottest thing
he would ever live

to tell—rain came twice
while he had waited; twice
its’ grace fell on him.  He escaped,
but had to run a long way
before he turned (to see from what
he had been saved).

Robert Buchanan was interviewed for the PBS program History Detectives (Season 6, Episode 5).  His testimony of how he avoided severe burns and possible death at the crash of the Hindenburg inspired this poem.