Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard, King Henry VIII’s fifth wife, was executed Feb. 13, 1542, on charges of adultery without a trial. She was 19.

Portrait believed to be Catherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger

In shadows and sin

I gave my love

– and gladly

to my darling Tom

He pledged to free me

from that gorbellied beast

those oozing wounds

his sour kisses

that festering body

crushing the breath from me

Baited like a bear

 – chained

 by my family’s ambition

I won a throne

clawed for escape

– and now the ax

will be my release

In my cell, with borrowed block

I have knelt and practiced death

a dozen times

I know its steps

surer than any dance

they may take my head,

I’ll not surrender my heart

May the devil damn them,

those parched souls

and starched faces

flaunting glittering gems

sharp as avarice

sparkling in their eyes

I do not forgive them

nor the rotting old man

peeping behind a curtain

to watch me die,

too cowardly

for splash of blood

I rest my naked neck

as gently as a lamb

upon the block

already bloodied

slick and warm

on my white linen

I die a queen,

but would I lived

for just a day

as Culpeper’s wife,

dancing freely in the fields

gathering spring bluebells

I am not sorry,

but I do fear

the cleaving,

I dread

the leaving

If they ask of me,

tell them

I loved

(With gratitude to Meditations On Permafrost for his graceful suggestions.)