Amputated Enigma

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