A Victim Of Her Own Sensitivity Poem by Francis Duggan

I knew a girl who had 'slimmers disease'
Or anorexa nervosa to those of high degrees
A charming person with hair of chestnut brown
And the prettiest of the pretties in our town.

A bubbly type with laughing eyes of blue
That sparkled like the pearls of morning dew
But all that seems quite happy is not joy
And one cannot read the human mind with the naked eye.

And little did all of those who knew her know
That in her heart a secret fear did grow
She feared that she was putting on some weight
And all life sustaining food she grew to hate

She guarded her secret with secrecy
And as usual sat for meals with family
Only to lapse once more into deceit
By stealing off to vomit what she'd eat.

Her parents worried for their daughter Rose
Whose shrinking body failed to fill her clothes
And like frost bit flower she went into decay
And she grew a little thinner day by day.

I knew a twenty year old in her prime
Who faded like the flowers of Summer time
And come tomorrow morning her remains are bound
For internment at the local burial ground.