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The Tragic Tale of Rosamund Clifford
The Tragic Story of Rosamund Clifford
By some urge to learn more, beckoned,
I read up the life of Henry the Second.
With Thomas Becket he picked a bone.
This well known fact I'll leave alone.
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
became his wife and brought much gain,
but in one matter not enough.
The lack was relieved by a piece of fluff.
In charm and beauty sans pareille
was Rosamund, a bloom in May.
Lest her appearance eyebrows raise
he hid his love in a secret maze,
Or so he thought but his wife got wind
that he and someone else had sinned.
Thus it was that the wily queen
found her way to the hideaway scene.
"By dagger or poison, take your choice,"
said the queen with rasping voice.
No true event but a pure invention
was this encounter, let me mention.
To Hereford this rose they sent
there in a convent to repent.
Still young and fair, alas she died.
For shame once more, she had to hide.
Far from any royal palace
in stone were written words of malice:
"In life her scent was sweet to smell,
but not so now, the truth to tell."
Hic jacet in tumba Rosamundi non Rosamunda, non redolet sed olet, quae redolere solet.
Copyright ©
Julian Scutts
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