Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482)
Philip the Handsome (1478-1505) = Joanna the Mad (1479-1555)
Here is the body
of Mary of Burgundy
with a box containing the heart
of her son,
Philip the Handsome.
Was it wise
to become
so centralised?
In a convent in Spain
Joanna the Mad,
enflamed by all
the women he had,
keeps guard at his body
inflamed by the heat
of the gothic fever
that’s to be her fate –
her Castilian hate.
For who’s to say
where his real heart lay?
And in the Salle des Mariages
the members of Mary’s entourage
have been hung like portraits,
so they never think
of rearranging this odd ménage
of three dominions
all out of sync.
For these
are not bodies
but polities
and the truth is
that having Philip back
has given his mother
a heart attack.