SARAH BERNHARDT

Divine Sarah
slept in a coffin
to know life is often
close to the tragic
with the love magic
of a courtesan
toured with the theatre
de Odean
like Whitman
cared for the wounded,
toured Cuba
played in Hamlet
La Tosca,
was Mary Magdalene
even in a chorus line
was close to Jesus
as any courtesan
living on the chin
we can still hear her
the divine Sarah.