In the early 1950's America had the "Red Scare". Many lives were destroyed by fear mongering and political intolerence.
Gale Sondergaard, an actress, was one who got caught up in it and made to suffer during this era. Her husband was one of the


The Lonely Miss Sondergaard

A face of glamorous beauty
A figure of graceful poise
A talent convincingly artful
Developing characters of sinister allure
With smile most disarming
Lovely eyes giving a knowing glance
A presence to light a room
Drawing turning heads from all around
A career of promise
With notable body of work
Accomplishments to be proud of
All came to a grinding halt
For petty guilt only of connection
For loyalty to husband and family
So was she sentenced to a blacklist of injustice
To loose her art in years of prime age
To be faced only with the backs of old friends
To fight administrations of hypocrisy
Her loneliness against the powerful
Denied work long after the witch-hunt had ended
Her strength to rise again is of noble credit
Through aging years with dignity
In inspiration to all who follow her
Times have been changing since then
But yet little changes in humankind
Times of the powerful and powerless
Times of fear and pointing fingers
When those who rule stifle all opposing thought
Heightened prejudice and intolerance
Differences of opinion not to be expressed
Investigation replaced by dogma
These times are always close by
When humanity looses some of its fragile edge
When such times are upon you my friend
Think of Gale's smile and find strength








Poetry by Salvatore
Read 550 times
Written on 2006-10-21 at 18:25

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