The Twin With The Purple Heart Poem by David Lewis Paget

One of the girls had unblemished skin,
One had a purple mark,
But for the stain on her shoulder there
You couldn't tell them apart.
While Jane was born at quarter to three
Joan was at ten to four,
Jane was destined for wealth and fame,
While Joan would be always poor!

As Joan had cried, the mother died,
The bombers were over the town,
The hospital where the daughters lay
Was hit, came tumbling down.
An aunt took Jane, and headed north,
A nurse took Joan due west,
So one was raised in a simple home,
The other had only the best.

The Marchioness of Huntingdon,
The title was left to Jane,
Along with a hundred thousand pounds,
A manor with moat, and game,
She'd heard that she had a twin out there
But lost in the war at the start,
She'd looked in vain, but the daughter Jane
Was the twin with the purple heart.

Her aunt had said, it marked her out,
The first born, and the heir,
To claim the entire inheritance,
Her sister had no share,
So Jane had put Joan out of her mind,
Grew arrogant, and vain,
If Joan turned up on her doorstep she
Would say that she had no claim!

She fell in love with a nobleman,
Impoverished though he was,
And he had envied the fortune that
His forebears long had lost,
He'd been betrothed to a simple girl
But said to return the ring,
A Baron wed to a Marchioness
Was a more exciting thing!

They wed in the Spring in a stately home,
His spurned ex-love had cried,
She kept the newspaper cuttings of
The bridegroom and the bride,
She swore she'd get her revenge one day,
That this was not the end,
And then the Baron had called on her,
Asked her to be his friend!

It seemed that Jane had worn him down,
Had cut him to the quick,
By keeping the Baron penniless,
She ruled, she held the stick!
He said that he wished that he'd stuck with her,
Had kept her for his own,
'The likeness is quite remarkable! '
He said to the grieving Joan.

They schemed, and then they hatched a plot,
She bought some purple dye,
Tried it out on her shoulder, drew
A heart, and he told her why:
'For you could pass for the Baroness,
I can't tell you apart,
To me it's plain, you could take her name
As the twin with the purple heart! '

So Joan turned up on the doorstep then,
And Jane was taken aback!
'If I didn't know much better, I
Would swear you're the twin I lack.'
They talked and compared the lives they'd led,
And Jane became afraid,
'Of course, there is no inheritance,
But we need a downstairs maid! '

So Joan moved in, and lived downstairs,
The kitchen became her home,
The Baron, he ignored her, played
The game that he'd planned with Joan.
While Jane was autocratic,
Treated Joan as the family shame,
With nothing of sister love to spare
While the plotters played their game.

While Joan was inking her shoulder, Jane
Came marching into her room,
'You want to look like your sister, well,
That's sweet, ' and laughed in the gloom.
'Let's see how much we can fool him,
Wear my clothes and wait outside,
He's taking me on an outing,
Over there, by the riverside!

Joan dressed herself as Jane and went,
She thought it a joke supreme,
She'd be able to spend some time with him
While Jane thought it a scream,
The purple heart by her halter top
Reflected the summer sun,
While the Baron drove, not saying a word
As his world became undone.

He left her there in the water, drove
Back home, and he strode right in,
'My God, but you should have seen her! '
He began, as she walked to him.
He wet his finger and rubbed the heart,
Then paled, as she started to laugh,
'You can rub and rub 'til eternity,
I'm the twin with the purple heart! '

26 February 2010