Thursday, February 26, 2009

Brown Beauty.



BROWN BEAUTY.

Elisabeth of Bavaria
Was famous for her hair.
It was long and brown and beautiful
And she treated it with care.
Every day it took three hours
To brush and comb and plait.
The fact that the servants muttered
Should not be wondered at!
Every three weeks her hair was washed
With an egg and brandy mix.
A whole day was given-up to this:
It took that long to fix.
If a single hair fell from her head
She ranted and she raved,
So the servants pocketed the hairs!
Every single one was saved!
It seems she had anorexia;
She lost a lot of weight
And she dieted and exercised
At a rather frightening rate.
A tall and willowy beauty,
Noted for her taste,
She starved herself
To keep her tiny 21 inch waist.
Though she was married to a King
She hated her married life,
She preferred to be writing poetry
Instead of playing wife.
In a way she was quite modern
In fact, an early Green,
Anorexia? Conservation?
Quite mod for a Queen!
When she was growing elderly
To prevent each cruel stare
She carried a brown fan all the time.
Let's hope it matched her hair!

11 comments:

Unknown said...

You are so creative. Very interesting! I never knew about this woman.

Kat said...

Dear Queen of poems..
Do you carry around a bworn fan? :)))

Miss_Yves said...

Nowadays, Marie-Antoinette is said to have anorexia too...
A way for these queens to break the rules ?

Carolina said...

What a great poem telling a rather sad story.

Isn't Boris Johnson (mayor of London) related to her in some way?

floreta said...

wow keeping up that hair is a job within itself!

George S Batty said...

Another splended lesson on history and you made it fun to read.

Old Egg said...

What an utter delight this poem is. Mind you with that length of hair I would expect half an dozen eggs and a bottle of brandy would be needed.

Great stuff.

Linda Jacobs said...

A history lesson in a poem! Love it!

Anonymous said...

I love the humor and imagery here. I can't say I blame her for preferring poetry.

Tumblewords: said...

I'd grumble like the servants if I wore that much hair and was bound to such a waspish waist. Great poem - you make history fun!

Unknown said...

i love the story... it seems like a fairtale to me. great read.