after “Wedding Dress Spring/Summer” Yves Saint Laurent, 1999
Her fingers laced with rose and blush,
The petals bloomed just with her touch.
Grass danced fondly by her hand
against the wind within they stand
But though her growth brought strength and light
Fair Queen was left in tears and strife
And as her sobs grew with such power
the leaves were changing by the hour
Her ladies—Mustardseed and all—
had met a quite untimely fall.
No Oberon, nor King like he
Though once she loathed, fell to her knees.
“What preposterous times there’ll be—”
she called, in constant agony,
Her kingdom null, a tragedy
Her thumbs grazed vines and heartsease[1].
And then, a new idea was struck,
seemed it was her only luck.
A margin from the grounds below
of human kingdoms, though her foe
They wheeled through forests, cut down trees,
did not look towards fields for ease,
and though she scorned them now forever
She thought, “well, I could be quite clever.”
She found the scraps of knights and kings
and placed some parts beneath her wings,
Some screws, some clay, and just in time
they threw two consoles by her side
With her panels, wire, and thread
and all these ideas in her head,
She strung the scraps of men together
to make her fairies last forever.
Their metal hands, their fabric wings,
and if she tried, they all could sing!
Even Puck, though lackadaisical,
in new form was transformational!
Cobweb and Moth were poised and ready
Peaseblossom too, Mustardseed steady,
and Oberon, once ready to seize,
her Kingdom he was eager to please!
And as the trees turned green and brown,
Titania then took off her crown.
Among the leaves and tiny buds
she threaded in some metal studs.
Then she looked down from her chair
and watched her fairies flying there.
Though automatons now filled their place
she missed the former fairy race.
Titania called, “Fairies, come hence!”
And so they did, their very best
“Tis the end for fairies? Well not today,
for our kingdom shall forever stay.”
[1] Wild pansy; Love-in-idleness
Maura Lee Bee is a queer, LatinX writer based in New York City. Her work has previously been published in Autostraddle, YES Poetry, Breadcrumbs & more. Twitter & IG: @mauraleebee mauraleebee.com