I
Why do I feel so sad? It's like a cloud
Hanging over me. As soon as I awoke I felt
It, an omen, a warning. Go hide, it said.
Run. Run away. All is lost, the tide's turned.
You can achieve no more, no more. And yet,
To have come this far, to have endured so much.
Foolish thoughts... you're a grown woman aren't you?
You're a Queen. You know what hardship is.
Oh, if only my children had lived, just one of them.
That would have been enough. One child from three.
That would have been fair, all that pain
And for one, for just one to survive, just one.

 II
The Countess left. Well well. How things have changed.
There was a time when the world came to a stop
If the Countess sighed or glanced awry.
He'll be upset. He likes control.
People to do his bidding, run his errands,
Obey his commands and I, The Queen, must wait.
Thirty long years of waiting, waiting for a child
To be born, a parent to die, a marriage to be
Consummated, a roof to be fixed, a wall
To be repaired, a dress to be sewn and
Always waiting. When I was young I
Dreamed that being a Queen would be glamorous -
The adoring crowds, the trumpets, banners unfurling,
The glorious panoply of power. "Marry him" they cried,
He's a Prince and will be King and you will be
The Queen. Now look at me. A moth eaten dress
In a draughty castle waiting for the enemy.
Such are the dreams of youth. Such is reality.

 III
Some day you'll choose between a lover or
A groom, between a cottage or a kingdom
By the sea. Your life is partly yours to decide
And partly for another to command.
Briefly our beauty and our form endow
Us with angel's wings so we may soar
And touch the heavens. Children give us
The keys to time but we must wait, wait
On consequences and affections turning blind.
Then you will understand what it is we
Know we have to do. We are all caught
In the web and stream of life and must wriggle
Just a bit to find our freedom.

 IIII
Tell his majesty we thank him for his care
And we remember well those summers of
Our youth when his first kiss was like the dew
That's sent from heaven. We'll not blame him for
His choice of bride though we were much vexed.