Joan of Arc

They called her crazy. Called her heretic

Call her maiden , but not the type of maiden you marry.

Instead, she’s the type who led her country to victory.

She was a peasant with no military training

she was a lamb in a wolf’s chainlink clothing.

She fought with all she had.

All she had was her strange strength.

All she had were voices & faith & her country.

Until her country sold her,

Made her a token for bargaining

Later made her a figurehead for freedom.

Joan of Arc was not your typical soldier.

Her power was peculiar & she made them tremble

So they burned her at the stake.

The soil of the country absorbed Joan’s ashes,

& It took 500 years to venerate her good name.

Eventually the church that burned her called her a saint.

Women with too much know-how & seeable eccentricities

Are rarely protected by those in power.

Even when they fight to maintain that power’s dignity.

I know history speaks, depending on the victor.

& still, It tells us that those who have a voice

are often the most silenced.

Joan did not care

about whether she would be remembered

as a hero or martyr

She did not care

if men in robes corroborated stories

to redefine her legacy as something somehow sinister.

She knew her own truth.

When asked if she was in God’s Grace

she did not say “yes”, She said

“if i am not, may god put me there. If I am, may God so keep me.”

In the end, She got her victory