An Ugly Din

Marie Antoinette was gravely ill
while she was taken in a tumbril,
in the wake of  the French Revolution,
toward the place of her execution,
among hysterical, hateful noise
yet maintained a dignified poise.
She faced the ire of a baying mob
but she didn’t cry, nor even sob
at being jeered by an hostile crowd
whose clamour was incredibly loud.
It was a pandemonium, an ugly din
accompanying her to the guillotine.
It was a sad and catastrophic event,
a fate that she could not circumvent.
This should be a lesson for us all:
see how the mighty can finally fall.

© Luigi Pagano 2015