Eleanora, Billie, Lady Day

"God Bless the Child"
( though yours was a lone blessing,
if that, even-
or was it just an unexpected
key,
with which to unlock
stifling doors...?)
And, "Mama may have,
papa may have"
but yours didn't,
they hadn't 
nothing worthy to give you-
girl child
born in 1915
Philadelphia
and on the proverbial "wrong side of the tracks"
add to that-
poor, 
uneducated,
and black
your daddy some say
was a no-account,
a musician like you,
he was absent (of course)
-while others say
"unknown."
And mama
broken like you,
though still in her teens...
What legacy could they
possibly give
nothing, none at all-
'nutin but the trouble
that was your lifelong 
intimate...
It was a birthright
of lack
and of shame
- all yours,
that,
and your given name
Eleanora
sounding all
sweet,
and elegant
though your life was
anything but.
And even the later moniker,
"Lady Day"
implied cheeriness,
light
bespoke nothing of the darkness
into which
you'd plunge.
And,
"Canary"
songstress surely,
jazz diva
but what of the cage?
that voice though,
your only miracle
yet some called it raspy,
fragile-
it was one of a kind
a sob
really,
bemoaning a bitter love
tragic 
and treacherous
it bore no honeyed sweetness
just echoes of the needle's
hypnotic numbing.
It was your voice by which
you'd rise
from out the brothels
where your own mama
led you...
Yes, you'd go far
catching a glimpse
of the life of which
you surely dreamed
yearned, for so desperately.
You sang at Carnegie Hall,
rubbed elbows with the luminaries
of your age
but even that couldn't remove the
taint
of abuse,
addiction...
Ever present
those memories of the sordid roads
down which they dragged you,
dancing on the razor's edge
song was your only safety net-
inadequate
it couldn't save you...
And what of the
white gardenia?
such a sharp contrast
to the blood red
poppy-
fleur du mal
(flower of evil) that killed you...
Gardenia
wholesome
and pure
symbol of the
innocence
so long ago lost
but ever 
desired,
deserved...
And I wonder,
how many women
(and girls)
still share your fate-
(though without the fame)
and how many females
(of all colors and classes)
are sentenced for destruction-
to end in obscurity?
for Lady,
even midst all your pain
you stood on the stage,
heard applause
and your music,
unforgettable,
is still being played...
Yet for you,
history tells us-
it just wasn't enough.