The Beer Champion

There was a hop-hearted man,
lived over the hills, rode a sober
horse, hung on by luck and dusty
stirrup—lived a life of drinking
every kind of beer.  Took ships
across time-zones; received in mail
from eager strangers; licked
frozen cubes in the Yukon; toasted
Mayans in undiscovered pyramids;
slurped out of naked German
navels; mixed beer with politics in
G8 capitals.  Only death did strip
him of his crown.  His liver backed up
in the late nineties, amidst the
microbrew explosion; filled his lungs
with the last ale he ever tasted—his own.