In this sad, sordid
and anything but edifying story
a lusting, leering and utterly laughable
monarch makes himself a fool
for the sake of his drunken urges.
Half a kingdom, ha!
he never had a realm of his own to give away
save that which his Roman overlords
allowed him to administer. He is smitten
by the no doubt charms of his dancing
stepdaughter, (in fact the daughter
of the niece that he has acquired as a wife,
but that is too complicated by another half!)
As the story goes, the pathetic king
paints himself into the naked corner
that will become a pitiful but convenient
excuse for murder.
The tale might elicit much ribald jesting
were it being told anywhere else
other than the holy gospel scriptures;
but here it stands as a solemn remembrance
of human weakness;
of overheated sexuality, power and abuse,
of masculine wretchedness
and of feminine duplicity and intrigue.
And, of course, the need for us all
to
find deliverance.© Ken Rookes
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