Catherine

A court full of whisperers

Watches a young queen

All of twenty-three

The beautiful Catherine.

Of the House of Braganza:

The noblest Portuguese

The young queen's

A little ill-at-ease.

A tongue not her own

She shouldn't care to know.

On the throne sits the King

Of neither her faith nor fancy.

In her hand is a tea-cup

Painted and enamelled

The brew of the Orient

Now in cold, wet England.

She looks at her husband

A man with mistresses

Months into her marriage

Her life's already a mess.

Seven isles of Bombay

As dowry to England

She married Charles

To keep Spain away.

A tale of many empires

Alliances and conquests

But who shall know

What a woman's heart held?

- Eisha