Marie

You, dear girl,
were sent to France.
To be a queen, they said.
you learned -
after Austria -
how to endure.

You, dear girl,
were sent to marry.
Your first deflowering
before you evem met him.
they removed your possessions,
your friends and your soul.
replacing them with rich fabrics
and a head like a doll's.

You, dear girl,
were duped.
Your dignity was next in line.
Plucked but not so much as
annihilated in utter indifference.
But ever resilient as the returning sun,
You faced your fortune
Gleaming and undaunted.

You, dear woman-child,
turned your venom
into a sweet poisoned spell,
out onto the landscape
in a selfish rain of opulence -
a thunderous downpour
of cake.