Giuseppe
Roderick Ford
My Uncle Giuseppe told me
that in Sicily in World War Two,
in the courtyard behind the aquarium,
where the bougainvillea grows so well the only captive mermaid in the world
was butchered on the dry and dusty ground
by a doctor, a fishmonger and certain others.

She, it, had never learned to speak
Because she was simple, or so they'd said
But the priest who held one of her hands
while her throat was cut,
said she was  only a fish, and fish can't speak
But she screamed like a women in terrible fear.

And when they took a ripe gold roe
from her side, the doctor said
this was proof she was just a fish
and anyway an egg is not a child
but refused when some was offered to him.

Then they put her head and her hands
in a box for burial
and someone tried to take her wedding ring,
but the others stopped him.
and the ring stayed put
The rest they cooked and fed to the troops.
They said a large fish had been found on the beach.

Starvation forgives men many things,
my uncle. the aquarium keeper said,
but couldn't look me in the eye,
for which I thank God
Write the lyrics for a misc song made in 2016, titled "Giuseppe", by artist "Roderick Ford".