Marcel Cerdan Poem by Francis Duggan

A lover of Edith Piaf the famed French singer yet in his own right he was quite some man
And those who know of the history of boxing would know of the story of Marcel Cerdan
From thirty four to forty nine out of one hundred and ten fights just four losses four fights it has been said he should have won
One of the great middleweights of his era the French Algerian he was next to none.

The former European and World middleweight boxing champion in boxing's glorious era he was great
But he died young in nineteen forty nine at thirty three in a plane crash one well might say he was hard done by fate
In France Marcel had become a National hero and his legend still alive and well today
The great champion may have had gone early to the reaper but in the boxing hall of fame his name will stay.

Marcel Cerdan had a wife and three children and his secret with his friends he could not even share
That he and Edith Piaf had become lovers and though the media did get wind of their affair
They could not prove the fact that they were lovers and had they so done the price might be high to pay
For the boxing authorities could have stripped him of his licence and from him took his right to fight away.

The love of Piaf and Cerdan is another story and I first heard about it when I was a boy
Of the famous boxer and the legendary singer it is a story that will never die
And though they have long lain with the departed the legend lives beyond their Homeland shore
Of their secret love affair and hours of passion it is a story that will live forever more.

Born on July the twenty second in nineteen sixteen in Sidi Bel-Abbes Algeria and died on the twenty seventh of October in nineteen forty nine
The story of the legendary boxer lives on like the Robert Burns song 'Auld lang Syne'
His life it was not free of whiffs of scandal and he did not enjoy a lengthy span
But Marcel Cerdan was far more than a boxer he was an extraordinary man.