Her Majesty

I wrote this a few weeks ago. One of the few things I've written recently that has not been heartbroken and melodramatic.

Her Majesty

Swans are vicious creatures

she says and there’s blood

under her over-long fingernails

in little brown crescents.

You write them like

they’re beautiful but

you know you’re not supposed to feed them.

She sits

with her back arched away

from the chair

and her neck white.

I can’t say

swans are sometimes royalty,

that in London parks

they belong to the Queen.

The only majesty in this room

is hers and so I say

Because they mate for life.