| A silent forty-two years
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| Nestled in the heart of Nova Scotia
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| Marooned in Digby’s Sandy Cove
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| A legless man was found unconscious on the shore
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| When he later awoke in the home of a local fisherman
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| He obsessively muttered the same three words over and over again
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| The first was Jerome
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| He repeated it so much so that it was decided it must be his name
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| Colombo was the second
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| Perhaps the name of the ship that abandoned him
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| The mutiny he attempted to lead left him stranded
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| Cast off into the vast unknown
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| After a ruthless Captain inflicted his harsh naval judgment
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| By hacking off both of his legs just above the knee
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| The final word was Trieste
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| Was this the land that he dreamed of As he screamed and moaned throughout his nights
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| Conceivably it was visions of loved ones severed and distorted
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| That motivated him to remain mute
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| Apart from these three words the man was soundless
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| He moved slowly during his enduring years
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| By scuffling forward on his hands and stumps
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| Canada’s first melancholic welfare recipient
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| Died on April 12th 1912
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| Broken fragments of his past have emerged
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| But the truth was never unveiled
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| A stone marker is all that’s left now
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| As a memory of this nation’s amputated enigma |