Writers Space Africa-Rwanda
Issue 1 Poetry

Never Knew – Aimee Marie Merci Dominique Iragena

Marie Antoinette was born Austrian in an idyllic family. According to certain sources, she enjoyed music, horseback riding and playing with her dog in her childhood. History has it that she changed from a simple extravagant woman to marrying the Dauphin of France, Louis XVI. She was ruthlessly executed on the guillotine, something at her young age she never knew would happen to her.

Born from mother’s courage,
Ready to receive the world’s marvels
And conceived in a bubbly marriage,
She never knew she was in for struggles.

Inexplicably in love with music and life
And from philos-filled childhood,
It would have been an impulsive lie
To be the essence of a lady-in-waiting’s chair.

Dressed in jewelry-less gowns, Austrian
But trained to love a king and money,
Her nights and gowns, now as complex as an octopus,
She never knew she’d miss tender mother’s honey.

A dove with deeply charming flaws, she was,
Deep molded into shallow and insatiable gold,
How did she end up chained?
Her head—just a mere fold?

In daisy-filled greens and ticklish lick of her dog,
She never knew that eerie day would be with fog.
A portrait of petite figure on horseback, she was
Yet she never knew that
The blinding glint of the guillotine
Would be her end.


Featured image by Stephan K via Unsplash

About the Contributor

Aimee Marie Merci Dominique Iragena was born in Rwanda in 2005 to a Rwandan mother and an Ethiopian father. She is currently studying Business, English and French in Year 12 at Riviera High School. She started writing poetry at the age of 11 as an escape, and has been writing since then. She published her debut poetry book in 2022 and distributed over 100 copies for free. She aspires to become a great writer and actress.

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