The Art Of Silence: Marcel Marceau Poem by Sheena Blackhall

His father was a Jewish kosher butcher
Who raised pet pigeons on the family roof
Marcel grew up to sounds of wing beats flapping
The sound bewitched him, round his childhood lapping

He wore his father's pants, inked a moustache on his face
Copied his hero Chaplin,
The little clown who moved with pathos, grace

Then he widened his range,
Copied trees, plants and birds
Put into movement the unspoken words

He studied ceramics, enamel work and oratory
Then Germans seized his father
For Auschwitz and its horrid crematory

A Resistance worker, in the killing time
Who smuggled kids to safety.
Kept Jewish children quiet by using mime

He fled to a Paris orphanage
Taught drama, in teaching mime he took the lead
Gave a major performance
To 3,000 troops, when finally France was freed

Fluent in English, German, French
This erudite monsieur
With General Patton's Third Army
He worked as a liaison officer

After the war he set up his Pocket Theatre
Became Bip, a white faced clown
Wore a broken silk opera hat with a red flower
Wore a striped pullover, brought the house down

Mime: in the classical dance of Kerala
Mime: in Noh, a perfect home
Mime: Jacques Tati & Harpo Marx
Mime: in Ancient Greece & Ancient Rome

The priests of Apollo,
The mime of Pantomimus
Dumb shows and mummers
Masques of skill all soundless

He toured Israel & Holland
Played Berlin, Canada, States
Became a knight in the French Legion of Honour,
One of the theatre greats

His pieces included
The Cage, Walking Against the Wind,
The Mask Maker, In the Park,
He is emotion, skinned

Music played him out
At his burial ceremony,
The second movement of Mozart's
Piano Concerto No 21
And the sarabande of Bach's
Cello Suite No 5
Flowed over the coffin, wordless
Into the silence he went
Marcel Marceau, artist and hero,
Peerless