The Story Of Jane (Poetry)

I had moved away and married
when I heard she’d done a Plath —
suffocated her two babies
tried to end it all with gas

It was headlines in the papers
and reported on the news
it was claimed that she had suffered
from a bout of baby blues

Those of us who’d been her neighbours
watched her growing from a child
knew that Jane was close to simple
always seemed so meek and mild

But her mother was a harlot
common knowledge in our town
married to the local milkman
she gave him the runaround

Jane was pretty but not clever
boys came calling soon enough
so it wasn’t too surprising
when one got her up the duff

They were Catholic so she kept it
no one made a big to-do
all the gossips knew their secret
and the teenage father too

Like so many with such trials
they just made the best of things
when Jane delivered on the nail
a bouncing set of twins

She took to motherhood some say
like a duck to water led
which rather begs the question why
both kiddies wound up dead

They hauled poor crazy Jane away
the doctors um-ed and ah-ed
for it was clear Jane was distraught
so a murder charge seemed hard

But in the end the court declared
she wasn’t of sound mind
for otherwise there wasn’t any
motive they could find

They locked her in the loony bin
and romance blossomed there
she fell for the psychiatrist
who supervised her care

She served five years — then wedding bells
guests hoped her husband has
no dreams to be a father and
he doesn’t cook with gas