POETRY: 'Madame J' by Robert Drake

Wrinkled, No legs freak, Hideous,

These are some of the names the kids

Would call her as they threw little pebbles at

Her mildew stained windows

Because they knew that she couldn’t stop them

Stop them…STOP THEM

The kids didn’t know Madame J,

For if they did they would’ve known that she

Was an 85 year old veteran from the Vietnam War

Who lost her hearing just so they could hear,

Who lost both her legs just so they can stand,

For you see,

 Madame J was a superheroin.

The etches in her wrinkled skin

Weaved tales of hardship these kids will never see,

Bombs bursting in thin air

Literally, deep images

Of her children flashes in her bloodied skull

Because of the many times she has appeared on deaths

Doorstep…

Reminiscing of the dreamtimes,

Presently en route to the

Rise of the machine times,

Madame J had stories!

Embedded in those deep sunken eye sockets,

The color of her iris has lost its iridescence

But Madame J has not lost her fighting spirit!

Madame J had stories!

She lost both her legs but

She has not lost the will to stand!

Madame J had stories!

She has lost her hearing but

She has not lost the ability to perceive God’s voice!

Madame J, had stories!

She has lost her youth but

She has not lost the courage she once had serving as a Lieutenant

In the US army!

Madame J had History!

She would always be quoted saying:

“You might win some but you just lost one.”

Madame J was beautiful…

She had thin gray hair, with a part,

That parted open her mind,

Where you could see the beauty of

Life stitched on her forehead.

47 stitches on her forehead

47 stitches on her forehead

47 moments of bloodcurdling pain

Experience because they could not

Put her to sleep

With those meager anesthetics

Because the nightmares kept coming back

And she would dreamed that she died,

She died…  

Over the PA system you would hear,

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Madame J has died.

Madame J has died for you.

Madame J has died for us.”

This, is for those who gave

Their lives, for us,

For those who left their families

Broken shards of a whole.

Madame J, Thank you

For your Christ-like sacrifice

And to all the Madame J’s of the world

I salute you.

We won’t forget you

We won’t forget you

We won’t forget you…

CopyRight 2012 | Robert Drake