His Great Matter
Lit Up — June’s Prompt: Lucky sentence
Why all this toil and trouble?
— The Best of Poetry: Thoughts that Breathe and Words that Burn
In a dim corner of the palace library, the king glittered discretely. The oak table before him was piled high with the knowledge of his kingdom: parchments, legal documents and pre-eminent works of theology.
His majesty was applying his not inconsiderable powers to the great matter, the annulment of his marriage. He would have literally bent himself to this task if he was not restricted by his stiffly bejeweled tunic.
Over the last hour, his position had shifted to face a window overlooking the forests — where someone waited for him.
Picking up his quill, he added his own thoughts, in Latin, before taking his leave.
What was this insightful comment he had taken care to record in the margin? Perhaps it could be translated to the simple layman as, “This doesn’t apply to me.”
