For Anne

Countless fathers, lovers and friends
Cut down by a bloody Reign of Terror
Lives run down to the streets below
In a ribbon of red

Madame is still, the cruel powers satisfied
An uneasy peace finally descends
We wore their memories around our necks
In a ribbon of red

Centuries past, the nineteenth of May
A Queen kneels before abused injustice
A sword’s swift blade ends an innocent life
In a ribbon of red

On this day, to honor the fallen Queen
An ancient custom sees a new day
I wear her memory around my neck
In a ribbon of red

Every year I try to mark Anne Boleyn's death on May 19 by doing something. This year, other projects kept me busy until today, so I couldn't do anything ambitious, and my current temp job (seriously, I'm constantly working this year!) gives me all sorts of time to do nothing but sit around when the phone's not ringing. (If only they let me surf the internet during that time.) So I wrote a poem. This is the same reason why I wear a red ribbon on February 12, but Anne was the principal catalyst to my sartorial tradition.

For more on the significance of the red ribbon, read Wikipedia's entry on the Bals des victimes.

This, to me, is the definitive version of the events of May 19, 1536. The details were glossed over, but the impact is so strong that it makes up for everything else.