(from my thesis collection: Warriors, Mothers, and Queens)

Alliances outweighed
            a raised shoulder,
            a limp,
            an unruly spine.
Two children trembled before a bishop.
Neither was of age,

neither desired the other.
A bitter spouse makes a poor bedfellow,
and as he ascended the royal ladder,
he found means to shed a twisted wife.
Thought a title and riches would appease —
how little he knew.  

No longer queen, she found refuge
with her goddess, founded an order for prayer.