TO MARILYN
Never the lines of growing old
Will show upon your face.
The public eye on private grief,
No more will you embrace.
Though you were born some years before
I came upon the scene:
Now I am ten years older
Than you have ever been.
I was just a boy of twelve
When I first heard your story.
Of how you took an overdose
At the height of all your glory.
And nationwide how tears were shed,
As they heard of your death.
How the screen's most famous goddess
Had breathed her final breath.
Now, when I gaze upon your films
On my television set:
You stay forever young;
Though older, we all get.
For millions you remain alive
On strips of celluloid.
Could you still be watching us
Across a timeless void?
And if you're still a goddess
On some celestial throne,
Do you feel, as in life,
Isolated and alone?
Or do you feel of all your roles,
Some easy and some hard,
That in death, your final role,
There's a heavenly reward?
Copyright Peter Jones 1990