There was once a king, he was called Henry
One would wish he had his heart as big as his size.
For Henry had the unusual urge to marry
Not only once, not twice, but six times, what a prize!
The first was Catalina, Infanta of Spain
The most beautiful princess in the world, they say.
First she married Henry’s brother, but he died then.
So Henry wedded the untouched maid.
Catherine she became, beloved by England,
But she couldn’t have a male heir.
Our irritated Henry could not stand
That they only had a girl, Mary, for his despair.
But then, a beauty of dark eyes, Anne Boleyn,
Soon conquered Henry’s inconsolable heart
She was Queen Catherine’s lady-in-waiting
With the ambition of a lioness from the start.
Soon enough King Henry was too enamored,
He tried to put the Queen aside for Anne, get his freedom.
Strong minded Catherine objected, she replied:
“This woman is the scandal of Christendom!”
Anne would not give up, she persuaded him
‘Til he asked for an annulment from the Pope
But the Holy Father refused to agree with such sin
Henry was frightened his beloved Anne would elope.
In order to keep his beloved by his side,
Henry broke with the Roman Church, what a dare!
Catherine was sent away, Anne was his new bride
He divorced his wife without a care.
The new Queen Anne had promised him a son
But had only one daughter, Elizabeth
That was when it began Anne’s martyrdom
She tasted her own fate of Lady Macbeth.
Clever Anne showed Henry his endless power,
But she did not predict how far he could get.
The King sent the Queen to the Tower.
“I have a little neck”, she said before she lost head.
Ten days after Anne’s death, Henry would wed
To Jane Seymour, his most precious pearl.
She gave him the greatest joy he ever had,
His son Edward, an heir, instead of another girl.
But his joy would not last long,
His dear Jane died of childbirth, poor dear.
King Henry was again all alone
He remained unmarried for nearly three years.
After his grief, he was ready for love again,
He married the German Duchess Anne of Cleves.
But he did not like her, for him it was a pain,
It took six months of marriage for her to leave.
Henry got remarried right away, to a girl of only fifteen!
Kathryn Howard was her name, a rose without a thorn.
That young and frivolous beauty was the English Queen.
And old Henry of fifty was secretly a target to people’s scorn.
Queen Kathryn fell in love with her cousin, Tom Culppeper
They became lovers, and when the King discovered the affair
He took away the Queen’s throne, her crown, her scepter,
And then her head, of beheaded wives he had now a pair.
Old Henry decided to try one last time, just once more
To find a good wife to end his days with, and for him to care
He found the kind Catherine Parr, a woman to adore,
Even though same religion points they did not share.
In his last days, King Henry was in such agony
That he could swear he had seen the shadows of Death:
Catherine of Aragón demanding to know about Mary,
Anne Boleyn inquiring him about her Elizabeth.
Jane Seymour crying, foreseeing her son’s sad fate
Anne of Cleves and Kathryn Howard screaming words of hate.
The King was dead, long live the King, poor Henry.
He yearned a male heir so much, but in the end
The one who ruled over was not Edward, not even Mary.
It was Elizabeth, the Queen with the heart of a man.
* Inspired in the lives and times of the six Queens of Henry VIII of England: Catherine of Aragón, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr
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The Mind of a Lady - Poetry Collection
PoetryA poetic form of the thoughts of a lady.
