PERSON Poem: HENRY THE VIII, by J.G. Millie

My very first, from Spain:
loyal to no fault of her own.
We wed right away:
bound by duty,
but she could only
bear me a daughter.
So, I punished her
by keeping them apart.

I had to look elsewhere
for another bride,
and found love with
a French beauty.
Changed the law
to be wed with love,
but she betrayed me,
and I had to punish her.
She met her demise.
When the London tower
struck her down.

My third wife
was my one true love
for she gave me
my first and only son,
but she passed
in childbirth.
My boy
followed
soon after.

My fourth wife
was the youngest
of them all.
The sweetest one,
but too young,
and foolish.
She made the same mistakes;
my second wife was accused of.
But this one claimed to love another,
and shared the same fate as my second wife.

My fifth wife,
I refused to bed.
Political advancement
be damned.

And my final wife
was a clever one.
She outsmarted,
and outlived me.
I ruled by her side
more than she ever did mine.