NOVEMBER NIGHT, 1943

The night was frosty
with snow flakes
German soldiers
staying here in Vichy
that November, 1943
as shadows of a furry cat
purring this dawn
on the sunny window
the old lady
says her rosary
by holy water
left before the war
by a monkish member
of the clergy
sleeps by her adopted
step daughter Marie
on the shapeless day bed
we remember her
as a vocal European writer
and actor in the theater
diagnosed with insanity
by the local doctor
after her rape
from a Nazi
without humanity.