The Ugly Duchess to Her Mirror, by ​Daniel Galef

Grotesque Old Woman, by Quentin Matsys (Flanders) 1513

The Ugly Duchess to Her Mirror

Margarete, the last Meinhardiner countess, exiled her husband, reigned from Tirol, and laid siege to Hochosterwitz, but is still mostly remembered as the subject of the portrait The Ugly Duchess.
 
There is a power in pulchritude, I grant--
to thumb the scales of fate, avoid its lashings,
to charm the hearts of men, and stir their passions,
to be an object of devotion, and
desire, to live as charmed a life as Helen’s
(or that of Cleopatra, or Adonis),
to scorn the scorn of those who would admonish
that faces fade as time flees. (On the balance,
“immortal beauties” are immortal for
a lifetime, less.) My courtiers claim that I’m
as lovely as the Alps, when veiled in fog.
The one true immortality is power.
My crown is pretty. It will last. That’s why
they say a face like mine could stop a clock.

​Daniel Galef

​Daniel Galef lives in a city named after a fictional character and collects counterfeit coins. His first book is Imaginary Sonnets, a collection of sonnets which are imaginary.