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
Copyright © Shaneika Cooper | Year Posted 2007
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