Eye of the Day
Mata Hari was born on the Paris stage
where in 1905 she was the latest rage.
Removing her veils until naked and raw
only a breastplate kept her within the law.
On Java it had been a carnival of dances
fluid movements depicting strange romances.
Sultry gestures, exotic and hypnotic
that, in Paris, she restyled as erotic.
Her next act was as a siren and a vamp.
The men loved her, the women thought her a tramp.
Men of renown blessed her with many a Franc.
She was a star, the diva of the Left Bank.
Her fame and her freedom to travel worldwide
sparked the French and the Germans both to decide
her role in the war effort would be to spy
where, if caught in its performance, she could die.
Thus...her last act was a kiss blown to the wind
as she paid with her life for her supposed sins.
Those in government that had forced her to spy
skipped her last number and let the bullets fly.
-
Author:
MendedFences27 (
Offline) - Published: May 19th, 2022 19:22
- Category: Sociopolitical
- Views: 23
- User favorite of this poem: L. B. Mek.
Offline)
Comments1
Mata Hari
as an icon of duplicitous, History
is a character I'm very intrigued by
not merely, for her exotic
noir - fairy tale, life story
but more
for her potential, as an anchor
to a study of such a complex Era
she successfully, manoeuvred within..
If I had the opportunity
I would start with her MacLeod, surname
and weave, a four decade biopic
that would encompass
everything from Nietzsche to Rasputin
From Edith Cavell
to Yoshiko Kawashima
and all the murky undertones
and bright highlights, in-between...
(thanks for sharing, dear Poet
a wonderful change of pace
and an informative, read
thank you!)
please forgive my self-indulgent little tangent
Thanks LB.- Sounds like a great idea for a book. The era, prewar-postwar, 1900-1920 is rich in historical and biographic material. Mata Hari would be ideal as a victim of that time and as a symbol of the revolution that occurred among women. She suffered at the hands of an abusive husband and lost one child to an epidemic and the other to her husband's kidnapping, once she had been awarded custody. She was a star on the stage and pushed the limits of censorship She virtually invented the strip--tease. She became a paramour to highly influential men, Kings, Princes, politicians, and especially Military men. These contacts are what led the French and Germans to each seek her service as a spy. She could have been saved if the French had admitted to recruiting her. Instead, they let her die and blamed her for their own military failures.
Thanks for reading this poem and for commenting and for the Fav.
agree completely, I too believe she was a mere scapegoat
if like Dostoevsky, she would have been granted
a last minute reprieve, maybe she too
could have gone-on to write her experiences
now that, would have been an epic read!
lol
(may she rest in peace)
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