The Evil Queen’s Lament
June, 2015. Inspired by the film ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’.
The day that we met I will always remember:
The sunshine it glittered like jet in your hair.
The day that we met I will always remember:
You weren’t my reflection, yet you were so fair.
The starlight had set all its beams in your eyes;
Your spirit it sparkled like gold in the sun.
And your face was their gossip, just as mine had been;
I felt my heart quiver, and knew I was done.
Cruel is the morning that wakes us to aging!
Bitter indeed is the taste of our years.
Unyielding, intemperate, siphoning beauty,
Stripping our youth from us, tripling our tears.
What is the point when I’m so far below you?
Your beauty — it so far surpasses my own.
I was the fairest, I was the brightest,
Most glorious sun the world had ever known.
What riches I wielded! What power was mine!
My beauty was legend! My spirit was fire!
I sacrificed — struggled — persisted — achievèd;
I fought for my greatness, and gained my desire.
But you, little miss, were born to your station.
Sweet nothing did you to attain your estate.
Bless’d with all goodness, all sweetness, all beauty,
You waltzed through your life as though worshipped by fate!
And oh, how they sang of your burgeoning beauty!
— Where once those were my praises crossing their lips.
Death was deservèd — I sought hard to kill you —
But poison and knife-edge fell from all grips.
What goodness preserves you? What angels are yours?
Were you born only to shatter my crown?
Impossible beauty — foul perfection — I curse thee —
And curs’d be all waters that did not thee drown!
The world has no need of two suns, two sunrises;
Dawn is redundant when twice it arrives.
Power is nothing when shared; greatness cannot
Unfurl to its fullest in two separate lives.
So I’ll drift far away in my silver-shelled coracle;
The world has no need of me now that you’re grown.
Crowns are all fleeting, hearts are for breaking,
Sorrow returns and we all die alone.
And my only emollient, as I drift, weeping,
Is the knowledge that you too will die in your turn.
Savour your moment, pitiful blossom;
All beauty fades; ice, too, can burn.
