Laura Ella Dukes, a.k.a. Little Laura Dukes, b.1907-d.1992, Memphis blues musician and singer.
Back then I remember
you and I went to a funeral
on a day made for a funeral
a gray day with a rusty rain
not bitter cold but cold
old blues guy died
Memphis legend
opened once for The Rolling Stones
and Bob was there and you and I
and Little Laura Dukes
Bob wore those suspenders
with the tennis racquets on them
those suspenders always made us laugh
but no one laughed that day
we bit the inside of our cheeks
that day
and stood in a stale rain
they lowered the casket into the ground
and Little Laura teetered up
and did what we would never do
frail and small
like a skeleton child
four foot six and seventy-two
so close to the grave we thought she would fall
we bit our cheeks
we looked at our shoes
and she bent down
and waved goodbye
and you and I weren’t half the size
of Little Laura Dukes.