Birthday Woman Poem by David Clinch

The tattoos on her body paint a story
A vulnerable young woman in great pain
Who bewitches, beguiles and bemuses in turn
Who's angry, brittle, gentle and strong

With body and soul she sings those songs
Holiday and Washington in every pore
Moulding, shaping her fragile strength
Life's losing game still not found

Hear the lonely dance of her delight
Aching, melancholic, oblivious, frayed
Engulfing memory, piled up high.
A thrilling grief for a life unknown