Last Words With Her Executioner
(jeanne d'arc)
How did you silence my voice?
I raised it to the king,
who stopped it with his laughter.
I signed it to the deaf,
who had nothing but smiles for you.
What happened to my hands?
I wrapped them in rope
behind your back.
I broke them in surrender.
What became of my eyes?
I lifted them to princes
to wear as jewels in crowns.
I covered them with my sins,
ornaments in my palms.
How did you care for my wounds?
I healed them with my sword.
I bound them in the name of war.
What did you do with my tears?
I raked them to your stake.
I drank them as your guilt.
Where did you place my bones?
On a scaffold in the streets,
cobbled dirt of France's feet.
How do you remember me?
As a woman singled out.
A woman with the body
of a tender boy,
a bell tolling round her neck,
flames spurring to her waist.
To whom did you give my love?
I passed it among your generals,
who wear it as their cause.
I pinned it lonely to my heart.
What did you do with my soul?
I scattered it among rosemary
to grow from the courage of hurt.
Who follows me now?
A name that will not die.
We: other women beside you.
Copyright Maureen E. Doallas. All Rights Reserved.
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3 comments:
This...
"I pinned it lonely to my heart."
And the way this poem moves, urges. Something about it so poignant. A beauty, pain laced.
I stumbled upon your site by what I'm coming to call a "divine accident." I was very touched by your poetry, and also by your thoughts on the "gang bangers." That was shocking and heart-breaking and I agree: something should be done.
Also, I ran across something you'd written on another post somewhere and thought I may have occasion to quote it. It sounded so appropriate for inclusion in a book which I'm completing" God's Comeback Kids. May I use what you said: . . . To "be lost" and then "come home" is the most profound experience we can hope for.
OCTOBER 26, 2009 6:39 AM
L.L., As always, I appreciate when you read and comment, given my delight in your own wonderful words.
Don, thank you for your kind comments. I hope you will follow my blog regularly. Your book sounds very interesting; I'd like to know more. I'm ok with your request. I have to admit I remember my words but not where I posted them, now that I leave comments on so many other writers' blogs.
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