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Sue Marra Byham

The Internationally Known Madame Defarges

Knitting
sitting where the necklaces fall
gathering up the shiny things to give to her children
who bite them
hoping for sugar
Counting heads
a figure to dread by the fountain
where the headless commissioned fine sculptures
while her children fashioned their lives from grime
Counting rows
and old hopes
Knitting scarves
to keep the plague from their faces
sweaters to be worn in lieu of coats
Madame Defarges
warming her toes by flaming mansions
learns to laugh finally
while the rats dance

Published in Doppelgänger magazine and in (Not) One of Us, honorably mentioned in "The Year's Best Fantasy" Datlow & Winding 1989

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