Once I was Beauty.
Anne of the Thousand Days,
I waited to be known,
my lust for love sublimated
for a King's ransom.
But I would not disown my Child,
and so I was beheaded.
Once I was Beast,
drooling monster
with red ruby lips
whose dread ate me limb by limb.
Never satiated, this Beast
sat longing with sad eyes--
a tender Big Foot.
Now I am both,
Beastly Beauty,
Beautiful Beast:
metamorphosis.