Pine Mountain Cemetery X
                   Martha

Martha lying over to the right was a late-born.
Mother really too old, but carried her anyway.
She screamed into a world little prepared for her.

Did you ever see a person who just seemed
To be put together with two different pieces?
Martha had a round eye and a slanted one.

She had a long arm and one with a crook,
Her teeth had a not unattractive overlap
As if the intended pattern did not quite fit.

Her light hair never matched her black moods,
Or tantrums, or demands to be seen and heard.
Why she never knew her world stayed

Glued to her every whim was a mystery
Never solved by their stoic clan. Her kin
Whispered behind their hands, but never raised

A finger to bend her to something like normal.
Just let her be, we can still hear her daddy say.
She’s sure to grow out of it and walked away.

Never was there an emptier hope, she even killed
Him in one of her temper fits. Oh yes, he lived on
A bit, but something broke inside. Still it’s a

Shame she is buried all alone. Her mother
Could never agree that family should lie
Together toward eternity. See? I still give in

And her gone these thirty years. Some have
A witch’s eye and born that way there’s no
Way to wiggle free. Not her fault I guess,

But on the other hand it’s not mine either.
High time I stop trying to make her normal.
It’s a wonder daisies dare bloom so near.