Portrait of a Queen

Portrait of a Queen

The Queen says, “Please have some coffee.
Apologies but the brew is cold.”
“The coffee is delicious.”
“Firstly you aren’t trying to sell your art to me
but rather to demonstrate
the depth of your vision.
Keep that in mind
and I am sure you will be the winner.”
The queen tells him,
“I haven’t disclosed this to the others.
While looking in a mirror,
I did a self-portrait that I keep hidden away.
The artist whose impression of me
most closely resembles my self-image
gets my hand in marriage.
He also is next in line for king.”
“I am glad you won’t show me your portrait
because your station in life won’t buy me.
We must be right for each other.”
Later she says, “If you had turned down
my cold coffee you would have been dismissed
for being of patrician tastes
and unable to relate to your countrymen.”
The others paint her as a Goddess
with gold crown haloes and jeweled robes.
He paints her as a commoner in poor dress.
His painting is a twin of hers
that depicts her dream of plebeian life.
The royal family chases her proletariat dreams
Into the castle cellar
Where moth and dust doth corrupt
But she ropes herself to the mast
Of her Flying Dutchman
To sail the clouds
Into castles in the sky.