The Lady Talks Back

Alfred, Lord Tennyson:
your rhyme
and mine
that room
that loom
that plume
my doom
that boat
afloat
how sad
too bad
how trite
not right

I did well on that loom. How did I know then that my tapestries would become renowned and would be exhibited in all the museums of Europe? You certainly made me a victim of my times. You locked me up in a tower and put a curse upon me; I couldn’t even look out the window and had to observe everything in that stupid mirror. Why me, Alfred, why me? Sometimes, in my mirror, I would see reflected a shepherd and his pretty lass; I would hear the sounds of their laughter. Well, of course, I noticed the helmet. There was talk about Lancelot; servants gossip a lot. He was the ultimate knight in shining armour, according to them.

So you cracked the mirror. What a good idea since I was getting pretty tired of it anyway. I waited until nightfall and walked down the creaky wooden steps. With furtive glances, I made it across the drawbridge. All the guards were snoring at their posts. Poor things; they did have a boring job. Can you imagine their thoughts about protecting me, that weird woman in the tower?

Then, of course, Alfred, you came up with that boat. Why did you put me in a boat? I never had had a sailing lesson. Then came the unkindest cut of all—they heard me singing my last song? Lance seated on his sturdy steed high on dry land, muttered platitudes over my dead body. Alfred, I pondered the manner of my death. I did not drown: was it starvation? Maybe, I should have packed a picnic lunch.

The truth is that, in spite of my inexperience, I did navigate that river well. I heard whispers of how Lancelot, true to type, got cozy with the Queen. King Arthur was devastated that his best knight betrayed him. The knights, sitting at that famed Round Table, were thrown into a state of confusion. They could not attend to everyday business and as a result, Camelot collapsed. One would have thought that they could have come up with some solution. But it had been the male belief, ever since Eve, when Paradise falls, the fault lies with a woman.

 As for me, I found that I had a natural affinity with the river. I swam in those cool clear waters with tiny silver fish nibbling at my toes. I drank from fresh flowing springs and ate nuts and berries that grew in profusion by the riverside. Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I stood knee-high in the water beneath the willow trees. Then I heard a husky male voice fervently murmuring September Morn. Thus, I found the man who would be my lifelong love.

Alfred, would that I could have invited you to my humble riverside home. You could have met the stalwart boatman who became my husband. We had six children, all of whom were well aware of the caprices of the river. I have but one confession: I did name my eldest son Lance.

Dead poet

I know it 
about that song
you were wrong
the river ran wild 
much like a child
in spite of meandering
it was my understanding
Me now free
with no hesitation
learned navigation
so ebbed and flowed
the rest of my life.