Legacy Of a Survivor
In Memory of Marianne Faithfull



Progeny of a spy, a teacher, a dancer,
an author of eroticism, aristocrats,
and Nazi resisters—how could you
have turned out any other way?
Survivor of heroin, homelessness,
cancer, broken bones, broken lungs,
and the ravages of Covid,
how could your voice have been
anything but smoke and gravel,
sorrow and rage, wisdom and truth?
A loving God in a chic white suit,
you tried to warn us, but we still
don’t know what we’re fighting for.
You are gone, leaving us the gift
of your art, as we try to sort
it all out—our desperate thoughts
an incoherent manuscript
written in broken English.

Diane Elayne Dees

If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Diane Elayne Dees would be pleased to hear them