What Do You See When You Look at the Door? - AFanOfRoses

“A meeting here to order I now call!”

The Mayor said behind his grey moustache,

His posture stooped when once he stood so tall,

The blaze of joy inside him turned to ash.

“Our Queen is gone! Belovéd, fairest Queen!

Exactly why she left, we cannot know.

We only hope her path is verdant green

And sun will shine wherever she doth go.

But O, our Queen! Our fairest Queen is gone!

The whims of fate have never been so cruel!

They use her as the lowliest of pawn;

Deprived this kingdom of its crowning jewel!”

“There’s never been a Queen over this place!”

Yelled Theodore, his auburn coat a’glint,

Disgusted look upon his face

From far away in banishment.

“This talk of Queens is vile and wrong.

I was sent here to quell this fuss

By his mother whose love was long,

And how has he repaid her thus?

Gone now, our King, without at least a word!

A King who has betrayal in his eyes!

A King who turned his back upon the Lord

And ate forbidden fruit of Paradise!”

“A Queen we have, and not a King!”

Said cat with bows and ears bedecked

With ribbons blue and white and pink

All streaming ‘round her slender neck.

“Say not such things, for now they are but lies.

Our Queen, she knows just who she wants to be!

Inside her heart, she holds the greatest prize:

That she alone can set her true self free!

We know not if she shall return

To love and hold us anymore,

But lo, the love she has won’t burn

Any different than t’was before!”

“Darlings, our Queen she has moved on from us,”

The pale elf said, his mouth a sharp-toothed grin.

“All of this petty squabbling! It does

No good to ask if she’ll return, nor when.

For Queen has gone off on her own

To see what lies out in the world,

And to her other dear friends shown

The brilliant wings she has unfurled!

She’ll go thence to her enemies,

To set things right, each in their times,

And force those traitors to their knees

To make them all pay for their crimes!”

From high a parchment mural overlooked

Of purple god whose face was flushed

And cradled goblet in an elbow crooked,

With hair across his shoulder brushed.

“Would you just chill and take a breath, my man,”

The Lord of Wine and Revelry spoke up,

“Our Queen would not forsake this land,

She’s only gone to luncheon sup!

For surely she has other plans

To eat and drink and merry make,

And even though we of her work aren’t fans,

Why should we from her celebrations take?”

Once-gentle ram now brought to anger spoke,

Her cloven hooves in rampage struck the ground.

And once the fires of her passion woke,

Her fury crashed on all who gathered ‘round.

“Doubt not our Queen! I know she shall return!

Her love for us has never wavered once!

No matter where she goes her heart will yearn

If she is gone for days or weeks or months!

So speak no more of tragic oath,

Lest eager shall my wrath be borne!

Damnation and Creation both

Laid low beneath my mighty horn!”

Alone, far from the other loved ones’ shouts,

A Knight in quiet contemplation sat

And pushed away all of their hopes and doubts

To think about where could their Queen be at.

They tapped their nail against the bed,

Took breath for two, then out for four,

And slowly turned their hornéd head

To look again upon the door.

What could they do?

They could do naught!

If danger grew

With peril fraught

Beyond the door

The vile door!

Does Queen walk upon the shore

Leaving footprints on the floor

In the mourning gown she wore

When she last walked through the door?

The wretched door!

Have the tales from times of yore,

Nightmares brought up to the fore,

Ignorant of recent lore

Took her heart and through it tore?

Breaking her most noble core?

Did she try to win this war?

Change the fate that was in store,

Seeing what the future bore?

Is that why she walked through the door?

For us to see her nevermore?

—

Written by AFanOfRoses.