Queen

The picture of defiance; 

stood still and fair. 

She, opulence born, declaring

‘Give me justice!’ 

to deaf ears

in streams of sober black velvet laced in pearls

Mighty Lady, 

Full of Grace 

purity pours out of those unsightly enlarged pores 

and from that rounded chin 

blackened wires sprout

Evidence

he’d ‘spent the night in the midst of Spain’

and for all that fervent piety, 

she was left to wither

and wilt. 

Her barrenness bared, 

and that aged womb publicly undesired. 

Yet, devotedly, 

in the hour of death 

her lips confess ‘Mine eyes do desire you above all things’

And from this, the vengeful spawn

of their ungodly copulation – that daring bloodless Mary – 

is unearthed from hell.