A Royal Portrait

                                                      Suffocating in splendour
                                                      she wanted to
                                                      rip the heavy brocade from her bosom,
                                                      bare her sweating breasts to the
                                                      naked air, feel the
                                                      prickle of evaporation from her
                                                      prinking nipples and assuage
                                                      perhaps the painter's
                                                      painful problem.