*
Pauline et 'Marie'
Pauline Acquart, fifteen, was brave enough
To put her half-grown body in a film;
And almost everyone who sees it knows,
'This is important'.
As skinny as a child, 'Mrs No-Boobs'
Exercised nonetheless a potent force,
Played the gamine 'Marie' so perfectly
She might have been her.
What was it, in her craft and sullen art?
The terrifying vulnerability?
The woundedness she disdained to conceal?
Was it her courage?
Her awkward shyness is still full of grace;
Her vulnerability is perfect strength,
As, nervous and embarrassed, she pursues
Someone not worth her.
To my mind, she is far more beautiful
Than golden girls that all the world desires;
And, if I knew her, know I would do much
To see her happy.
'Marie' derives the power of her spell
From Pauline Acquart's body, soul and mind,
Which she gave fully and unstintingly,
So that she lives now.