Titania’s Autumn | Maura Lee Bee

hiwa talaei via Pexels

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

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