Riff On Sheena Blackhall's The Queen Reads An Intercepted Letter 1594 Poem by David McLansky

How cruel your eye to catalogue my decline
To specify the bloom of my decay
To fault me as not the Queen of Time
As if I ruled the sun throughout the day;

Where once my teeth were pearls that sparked delight
My smile a benediction soft bestowed
My eyes were gems that shimmered in the night
Compliments in words a courtier owed.

Would that my beauty were as hard as admantine
That royalty was impervious to age;
That Time could be prosecuted for this crime
To mar the face that once was judged divine.

I have banned my reflection in all glass
My mirror insults me as I hallway haunt
Where once I sought denial as a lass,
God help the flattering diplomat in his task