Delicate myrtle blossoms, evoking Spring,
with twisted tendrils intertwine
my Crown, golden beyond belief,
beyond centuries,
intricacies provoking ahs of wonder
From all who visit
my Tomb.
I never wore it alive.
At 16, I was honored when
King and Conqueror Philip chose me,
as he had chosen his first, second, third,
fourth, fifth, and sixth wives.
We married for Life–
he was assassinated.
Now my bones, delicate fragments
once wrapped in purple silk,
nestled in a golden larnax,
topped with the Macedonian Sun,
are encased in glass
through which high school
tour groups peer and read
that, distraught, I sacrificed myself
to join Philip in Death.
There are so many Myths in this land.
Carol Blessing, professor of literature and department chair at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, holds a doctorate from the University of California at Riverside and loves poetry and poetics. She has edited a reference book on John Milton and published articles on Liberian poet Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Amelia Lanyer, John Webster’s drama, Deborah the Judge, and early Methodist women preachers.