They could not unsow
The strange communion
From the people's closed mouths,

The flint look of them.
The women were a comments section of small intrigues,
The men weighed in on the little things and paid close attention to the fates of

The King’s cousins and confidants
While their daughters giggled over the shades of dresses and balls.

And then there were the other things - encoded between the stems
Of the agriculture, somehow caught at market between fish scales
And bony hands. In Regan’s house the women

Took to wearing a susurrus beneath their smiles and bows.
The King was popular, his late wife adored
But these are future times.