Marianne (Bearer of Tricolour)
Marianne; the Goddess of Liberty and bearer of Tricolour,
Triumphant French Republic revolutionary figure,
Evokes solidarity with breasts exposed and barefooted;
Wearing a Phrygian cap and armed with a bayonetted musket.
Personifier of liberty and reason for the French citizen,
Symbolizing wife, mother, and emancipated feminist.
From atop dead Parisians she leads victory’s charge;
« En avant les citoyens, la guerre n'est pas finie:
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; la démocratie prévaudra ! »
("Onward citizens, the war is not over:
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; democracy will prevail!")
“Sing! Let ‘La Marseillaise’ reverberate throughout France!”
Le 14 juillet, la Fête Nationale (Bastille Day, the 14th of July);
« Vive le libre France! » ("Long live free France!")
"Oh, cut it out!!' he cried
As they shot him
Grinning
Smiling in their power
"But I am one of you!" cried he
As they bayonetted him
"Have mercy!" she begged
While she was gased
"Someday you'll pay!" they whimpered
Forlorn and forgotten martrs
Dying in masses of groans
Early graves awaiting
Yet warm bodies
Rotting flesh on last week's quota
Quivering in anticipated vengence
Reach out, deadman
Grasp those distorted in sickness
Who beg so much louder than their victims
Every rotting heart beating louder
to the pace of their awaited screams
Every trembling bone reaching above
Dead on schedule
Efficient killers
Reluctant in responsibility
For the millions
Who could not understand
your reasons for exterminating them
The world and the heavens
Decry your deeds
You the inhuman.