Petit Trianon

Nestled within the stones
of Petit Trianon
I am free from remonstrations,
commissions, many millstones
encircling my buttress!

In this palatial paradise
amongst the verdant greenery
gardens and livery, Mops roams
with *Chaconne;
she is his pet! her soft fluffy tail
sways and lilts in a languid sashay!

How splendid the array of vittles,
berries, and breads! Pate a Choux!
Croquembouches; buttery fillings
lay, small sweet sequence coating
steeping my being!

I feel these fine infinitesimal luxuries
and I am ashamed;
that I have this need to be plain
to fit within a stone bound treasury
unencumbered by petty
absurdities and to lack for nothing

I do not wear a bustle here,
Nor the tight corset and towering coiffure
But the grey cloth, careworn shift
white cotton bonnet
of a seamstress

or a milkmaid carrying her pail
and wooden paddle
whilst taking her constitutional

I do not do this in mockery
nor out of a blithe need to base myself
No, this is not an act of contrition
but the skim, lacing
crème brulee needed to give the
confection bulk and substance

* I have taken literary license here, as we know King Louis XV had cats, but we do not know their names. I have created one for artistic purposes. Mops, was, in fact, the name of Marie Antoinette’s Pug.

Temple of Love Poems for Marie Antoinette

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