The Ballad of Resurrection Mary, a Cemetery Story
See me
in my white party dress
while passing by Resurrection Cemetery
walking up Archer Avenue, jumping
on the running board of your automobile
and vanish.
See me,
with my blond hair and blue eyes,
with my thin shawl and small purse
and on this tiny dancing shoes -
just a piece of art
from your local graveyard
and a joy
forever.
Meet me at the O Henry Ballroom, now
known as the Willowbrook,
and dance with me
as the young men did
who all grew old
and died
and are still waiting for me
at the Resurrection Cemetery.
Offer me a ride home
and I will give you vague directions
heading north of Archer Avenue
where you will see me
vanish behind the gates
of Resurrection Cemetery.
I will bolt in front of your car
and there will be a sickening thud
and when you stop to help me,
I will be gone -
or you can drive directly through me
when I make my turn and disappear
in the Resurrection Cemetery.
They'll make you believe
I'm dead, but hey:
you did see me -
did you?
They'll say to you I was killed
while hitchhiking up Archer Avenue,
way back in the thirties and
after having spent the evening
dancing with a boyfriend
at O Henry Ballroom.
It was a cold winter's night
and we had a fight
and I stormed out of the place
and was run down
while walking up Archer Avenue.
The driver left me there to die
but here I am
in the white dress and dancing shoes
I was wearing when my parents buried me
at Resurrection Cemetery,
so come and save
this last dance for me.
They say I am no more
than a ghost, just passing by -
but did you see me
grasping the iron bars
of the Resurrection Cemetery?
Did you see me pulling them apart
and blackening them with the scorch marks
of my infuriated fingerprints,
sealed in the green bronze?
They'll make you believe
that I am no more
than a piece of art
from your local graveyard.
But hey, did you
see me
vanish?