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