Karl's Daughter Poem by gershon hepner

Eleanor, Karl’s daughter died
a Jewess and a suicide.
How sad the combination. Patriarchs
are perilous, and Marx
was no exception. To be born
from such a man can make one mourn,
and make one search for roots, but she
felt only death could make her free
Don’t blame the Marxman though, but rather
he lover, for she loved her father
no less than him who gave no ring
to her, one Edward Aveling.

Fathers, lovers both tie shackles,
and can both create debacles,
and though they both claim to redeem,
they often shatter self-esteem.
If you’re a daughter or a lover
from both of them you should take cover,
though if you find your roots you may
survive if they both go away.

Inspired by reading about the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, Eleanor, about whom John Stokes, Professor of English at King’s College London and author of an article on Simon Gray that inspired my poem “Perhaps Absurd” wrote a biography:
Unlike her father, she considered herself Jewish, took an interest in her Jewish ancestors, and had a warm appreciation for the Jewish workers in the East End of London. In 1898, she discovered Aveling had secretly married a young actress. He proposed a suicide pact, which he never intended to follow through. Instead, he supplied her with prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) , which she then used to kill herself, and left the house. He was widely reviled for his actions, but an inquest cleared him of criminal liability. Aveling died four months later.[5] In 9 September 2008 a blue commemorative English Heritage plaque was placed on the house on Jews Walk, Sydenham, south-east London, where Eleanor spent the last few years of her life.

4/23/09