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POETRY

For Lady Day
(with special thanks to Cecelia Norfleet)
VERNON (KITABU) TURNER

If ever on some winter night
You hear the sound of sadness
upon de whispering wind,
think of the Lady.
think of "the Lady
who sang the Blues,"
think of white gardenias
whose life fragrance
mixed with the whiteness of
death,
ending the "satin sound of sadness"
for the last time,
think of softness
love and womanness
fused into hardness
by creatures who thrived on
the life's blood
pouring from her lips
like vampires draining the gentle lamb,
think of the lady who fell under the
weight of the american dream denied,
think of the lady who cried the Blues for
all of us,
think of the lady
who died.

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