i watched a woman dressed in
her robes and crown
with a servant groping at her feet
dying.
her husband in a pool of blood
behind her
and her maid shouting for the sky
to weep.
there is a snake on her breast
and she is
heaving and sighing and swooning.
i saw a woman
once playing a dying queen.
i saw the woman fall
and rise up again.
i watched her do so again and again
and again
like she has such celerity in dying.