IS THE QUEEN READY

Terry McArthur Blog #25 | 10. 7. 2022

"I did not do it on purpose" - Marie Antoinette.

i

The most beautiful, the rarest of species, so lush and delicate,

Archduchess, a Hapsburg virgin, born to breed kings and queens.

Heart and soul, flesh and bone, all claimed her womb as their own

The most beautiful, an Austrian Queen fit to sit on the French throne.

What a wedding, all of Paris turned out

Giddy in their delirium they lined the streets,

Swooning or else shouting “Marie! Marie!”

You were their bright blooming flower of ecstasy.

Smothered in the white swamp of a wedding dress

The beautiful one, more beautiful than ever.

But the revolution was coming.

The revolution my beauty, did you not see it snaking up

Out of the pits of the rabble, out of the belly of the hungry?

Out of the mouths of the ravished and the scorned?

The revolution hungered for your beauty .

It was too late to unbake the luxury of chocolate and cake.

It was too late for anyone to eat cake, Marie.

The people had an appetite for much much more.

They devoured all who stood between them and liberty.

It was no use sewing yourself into that fatal funeral shroud.

There could be no easy death for you.

Ii

Marie Antoinette

they're leading you from the gates

the executioner awaits

hear the crowd applaud your fate

you're such a pretty shape

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

underneath the guillotine

they're measuring your neck

the blade is so sharp

honed for your heart

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

there's no time for regret

be careful where you step

It's so slippery and wet

underneath the guillotine

spinning like a marionette

Marie Antoinette

iii

From cart to guillotine, surrounded by 30,000 soldiers

Hair hacked, hands bound rough with rope,

You walked before the baying crowd, head unbowed,

Gaze steady, and approaching that wicked blade,

Trod upon the red cloaked Master executioner's foot.

"Pardon Henri" your eyes smiled, "I did not do it on purpose."

Henri Sanson Master Executioner, The People's Avenger

Whispered, "I did not think I would live to see

The king and the queen bend both neck and knee."

As your head rolled into the basket, your lips parted

A fountain of rainbow serpents shot from your mouth.

Headless now you rose and danced for all those gathered

Beneath the sun at the Place de la Révolution.

Your arms , oh your sweet milky blood soaked arms

Waving goodbye to the people as you held aloft your

Beaming face before handing it to a weeping Henri

So all might see that miracle called history.

Marie Antoinette, you were more beautiful than ever.

© IS THE QUEEN READY |Terry McArthur | Blue Pearl Music.

Paiinting https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marie_Antoinette_Execution1.jpg