ticker tape parade

they say you were lucky
as you flew across the sky
Long Island to Paris
in one swift ride

popular you were
or rather, became,
when they heard of your
success
and longed to share your fame

St. Louis' Spirit
let you soar to great heights
settling in with eugenicists
affluent breeding of the age

hypocrisy and secrets
are not new to those refined
but proved you were human,
imperfect and flawed

your infidelities broke
the illusionist reel
allowing thirteen heirs
to the Lindy throne

two women you chose
were disabled in gait,
a defect utmost
for the pretentious breeding eye

as cattle they'd be shunned
but you with them lied
five children came to be
from Careu Kent on the sly

a mixture of virtue
opposed the Eugenicist Creed
and affection was shown
to Hitler's unclean

your public prejudices
were privately a lie

and you-
the Lone Eagle
were less hero than man
holding secrets
of which Anne
would have never approved

a paradoxical identity,
love mingled with pride,
a daredevil pioneer
who delivered mail in the sky