King Louis’s severed head,
lifted high above the crowd,
dripped blood
that watered the furrows
of France’s fields.

Marie Antoinette stood by,
dishing out slices of cake
to the women
marching on Versailles,
who came
armed with poleaxes and pikes.  

The dauphin,
at ten years old,
languished,
imprisoned in the Temple fortress,
before succumbing
to scrofula.

Severed head of King Louis XVI

-Maggie Brewer