The Grave Dancer

There was one other literary result of our travels in Maine.  It has taken longer to complete than the blogs full of pictures.  Jack and Jane Pronovost introduced us to an old Maine legend about a burial monument in the town of Bucksport, Maine, that is mysteriously marked with the outline of a leg and foot.  They even drove us past the cemetery where the foot-printed tombstone still stands.

 

If you would like to read a more factual account of this mysterious phenomenon, and see pictures of the marked monument, you'll find an interesting article at http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6159.  This writer recounts the legend of the burning of a witch; other versions feature other causes of her death, including her hanging

 

But, of course, I had to give that legend my own interpretation, which I include below:

 

THE GRAVE DANCER

　

1. I stood alone in the prisoner’s dock, no one to give me aid.
The judge looked down with an angry frown; "My judgment has been made."
"But, Your Honor, I’m not guilty of the crimes they have accused.

Not demon-possessed; I’ve cast no spells, nor witch-craft have I used."

 

CHORUS: "But I’ll dance on your grave with great joy and glee

And I’ll haunt you for-ever if you hang me!"

 

2. Though innocent, they hanged me high, in the square for all to see.

But those who came from far and near shed not a tear for me.

Not many moons hence, that judge also died; an unexpected demise.

The folks in town who called him friend grieved him with tear-filled eyes.

 

CHORUS

 

3. I kept the promise I had made, and there, like smudge of soot,

On the judge’s gravestone, when un-veiled, was the outline of my foot!

They wiped and scrubbed; they sanded and chipped; but it would not go away.

Ah, justice at last, for my footprint remains on that judge’s grave to this day!

 

CHORUS

(I'm working on a tune to set this poem to, but that's much harder to send by e-mail!)

I hope you enjoy my poetic version of that old Maine legend!