Tea with the Queen

Welcome to the Privy Chamber!
New Maids of Honour remember
It well, as the place to drink tea-
Relax a spell! No enemy

Here shall reside. Talk is private.
A question? I will accept it.
Oh, of course! You ask what all ask.
Why I never in love’s arms bask?

In love, I see no advantage.
I found it bland at a young age.
Love is not a game of power,
Those thoughts sent Mother to Tower.

Subservience belongs not in
My veins. I’d rather eat rotten
Peaches than to bite that apple!
With this battle I shan't grapple.

For a woman, love’s submission,
A kind of internal sedition!
I watched the parade of peacocks.
They shall not have keys for these locks!

Now, would you care for a brisk walk?
I have had my fill of this talk!