Alack! dearest Richard, my mortal thoughts
Whilst mine own blood cradles me with arms bound:
To men like us, fate is unkind, for we
Have no tongues to safeguard our innocence.[1]
“Tudors ride high in popular esteem.” [2]
Yet villain would I rather, bloodthirsty
Executioner be – by Gregory,
The defiler of his unwilling wife; [3]
By Martin, a bastard tyrant – than be [4]
A coward who fled the field and failed. Nay,
I fear not death, nor fly his deadly doom. [5]
Tarry I here – but life! Lo, your brothers’
Mercy spared my tongue; I cannot use it.
What wretchedness in Edward’s final hour!
Richard, I scorned and mocked you in the field
When I declared my house, my station, and
My sworn right to the crown as Henry’s sole
Heir, and air ‘twas, as my claim died that day
To York in the blood-soaked sod of defeat.
I smiled at you, yet I fear I played the
Devil’s part too well – Did you, Gloucester, think [6]
That proud, haughty Lancaster, Prince of Wales, [7]
Could only sneer at his grave enemy
And not with tenderness look on a friend,
Or spare Anne? My countenance is grim now.
I have no will to smile, nor jeer, but I
Beg thus – Grant one wish to your constant foe:
Hark, Richard! Heed me! Though fate be cruel, yea,
Love is kind; so too my Love for thee – !
[1] Both Richard III and Edward Lancaster have unfavorable reputations in the 21st century.
[2] Potter, Jeremy. Good King Richard? An Account of Richard III and his Reputation. London: Constable and Robinson, 1994.
[3] Edward rapes Anne in this historical fiction retelling. Gregory, Philippa. The Kingmaker’s Daughter. New York: Touchstone, 2013.
[4] Edward is perhaps the inspiration for Game of Thrones character Joffrey Baratheon. Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1. New York: Bantam, 2002.
[5] From The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act III, scene 1.
[6] Richard III is the Duke of Gloucester
[7] Edward Lancaster is the Prince of Wales
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