Black Beauty

She sits on her throne with a fixed smile on her ebony face staring into the crowd, she sees the peasants all grim and dull But the smiles on their faces tell her they have love, strength, and happiness As a child in the Congo, she would swim the river and look upon the villages filled with them And like now, their smiles filled her hollow heart Laughter choking the air Making her existence stale and ignored Love, dangling above her like her pet monkeys swinging in trees imported from Asia for her father insisted she have the best Turning away from the crowd, she looks into her room filled with silks from India, Diamonds from caves in inner Africa Plush pillows filled with feathers from geese that were handpicked from prosperous farms She sits in her vanity, unwinding the long braid of hair secured at the top of her head The long black hair falls beyond her shoulders, past her waist, until it lands above her ankles A treasure, a beauty envied by all And she used this, above the Congo River Standing on her balcony To drop, to tie it to a rail to snap her neck, and hang freely with one last breath, one last peek at laughter and happiness A life this queen never knew