" God Bless the Child"
( though yours was a lone blessing,
if that even
or was it just an unexpected
key
with which to unlock
stifling doors...?)
And, " Mama may Have,
Papa may Have"
- but yours didn't
they hadn't
- nothing worthy to give you...
girl child
born in 1915
Philadelphia
and on the proverbial " wrong side of the tracks"
add to that,
poor
uneducated
and Black.
Your daddy some say,
was a no- account
- a musician, like you
( he was absent,
while others say, " unknown.")
And mama,
broken like you,
though still in her teens...
What legacy could they
possibly give?
nothing, none at all-
nutin' but the trouble
that was your lifelong
intimate...
It was a birthright
of lack
and of shame
- all yours
that,
and your given name
Eleanora
sounding all
sweet
and
elegant
though your life was
anything but.

And even that later moniker,
" Lady Day"
implied cheeriness,
light
bespoke nothing of the darkness
into which
you'd plunge.

And " Canary"
songstress surely,
jazz diva
but what of the cage?
that voice though,
your only miracle
yet some called it raspy,
fragile-
it was one of a kind
a sob
really
bemoaning a bitter love
tragic
and treacherous
it bore no honeyed sweetness
just echos of the needle's
hypnotic numbing...

And yes, you'd go far
catching a glimpse
of the life of which
you surely dreamed
yearned for, so desperately.
You sang at Carnegie Hall
rubbed elbows with the luminaries
of your age
but even that couldn't remove
the taint
of abuse and
addiction...
Everpresent
those memories of the sordid roads
down which they dragged you,
dancing on the razor's edge
song was your safety net-
inadequate,
it couldn't save you...

And what of the
white gardenia?
such a sharp contrast
to the blood red
poppy-
fleur du mal
( flower of evil)
that killed you...

Gardenia
wholesome
and pure
symbol of the
innocence
so long ago
lost,
but ever desired,
deserved...

And I wonder,
how many women
( and girls)
still share your fate-
( though without the fame)
and how many females
( of all colors and classes)
are sentenced for destruction-
to end in
obscurity?

For Lady,
even midst all your pain
you stood on the stage,
heard applause,
and your music,
unforgettable
is still being played...
Yet for you,
history tells us
it just wasn't enough.