For Susannah Mushatt Jones

Today I bide,
The world's oldest person has died
A life of hundred sixteen and pride
I'm pretty sure she had a wonderful ride

Six scores, three years
And two days since free
The last 19th Century American was she
Born granddaughter to slaves in Montgomery

One of the few, one of the last,
Links to that time, those ideas and past
She lived through gradual worlds of contrast
Was she happy with everything she outlast?

Just a number in an archive,
What would she change or want to thrive
While we're pre-occupied with words like "survive"
We must know nobody gets out alive

A new day after a new dawn,
As world's oldest she passed the baton
And though the world has learned to move on
I hope she was proud before she was gone