Shell: Jane Grey

Shell (Jane Grey) The Knights are all lining up to have their taste of me. Because I'm quiet and demure of the weak and tired and pure they lock us up forevermore. Their whispers and their shouting too, always surrounded, what's a Queen to do? But sit back and take I know their words are only fake. But a different knight comes every minute. They push my body to the limit. They clash their swords and trace my thighs they only care for their own high. Lace is torn and bows discarded Still my mind lies closely guarded. For though they slash and gnaw and bite they know I do not belong to their knights. My shell belongs to the Empress. And it is her I still long to impress. She runs her hands through hair and touch and ribbon, and the knights all know their love for me is forbidden. Yet I am Queen and she is Lover. Owns my heart and mind forever. The knights and page and prince sure woo but will never whisper 'I love you.' What would I do if they were real. Their gifts, their longing for my own spirit breaks down closer by the minute. She roughs my skin, my back, it breaks. And she takes and she takes and she takes. Now the knights all join with me once more. To pretend to believe and finish the score. But in the end, the Death, it is me. I wrap my neck and arms and wrists in twine as I say goodbye to the world that was mine. And now the sword, it lifts the hilt and spills the blood as the head tilts. Till finally the world turns black and now I have the final say at last, *I* choose when to go away. To a place without pain, to a place without a Queen. But of course, the axe, Well, everyone would have seen. My shell as it hits the cold hard ground and now my corpse, it makes no sound. 'Cept for my last and final breath. Free from the knights and Queens and Kings. They hold their own but on me they feast. The ravens fly with a monstrous roar. I sit by, and watch the rain pour.