Marle Anne Banas

I came to this country at the turn of the century
A little girl all alone on a boat for three weeks.
I traveled to the Midwest
To live near my parents.
I worked in the match factory
And later I met Joseph,
Another immigrant from Austria-Hungary,
Who came here to work in the steel mill.
We were married at seventeen
And had eight children, eight children
Eight beautiful children,
Three girls and five boys.
We lived on Draper Avenue,
In a nice little house next to the barn,
At the top of the hill,
Near the Russian Grove.
The Depression came and left,
My husband came and left.
He died and the War came,
And then my sons left,
Some of them so close to the old country,
Yet so far.
They all came back to me though,
And I lived to see eight marriages
And a great-grandchild.
Any woman should be so proud.
My gravestone says I lived to be eighty-seven,
But I really died at eighteen.

Chris Sula