BROKEN PROMISES

I remember when her laughter rang like bells through iron halls,
A splash of brilliant springtime in these dark and morbid walls.
She brought me wildflowers she'd picked past guarded, lethal gates,
And offered up a tender heart to one who only hates.
Back then I called it weakness, built my walls against her grace,
And carved my words to shatter every softness on her face.
I traded her sweet devotion for the cold and bloodied crown,
And sailed across the stormy sea to Italy, looking down.

Ten years I spent in shadows, letting ambition turn me cold,
Forging a ruthless empire out of stories left untold.
I thought I'd come back stronger, fit to rule and fit to break,
Unknowing of the quiet hell she suffered for my sake.
They handed her to me wrapped up like a victor's spoils of war,
A broken little porcelain doll upon my study floor.

She barely speaks a single word, she flinches at my stride,
And hides her tear-stained, frightened face where shadows safely hide.
The mind that couldn't bear the weight of what our fathers made
Retreated to a safer place, where innocence delayed.
She curls her tiny fingers in the oversized white sleeve,
And looks at me with eyes so lost, it makes my chest heave.

And God, it burns to realize, as I watch her drift away,
The cruelest thing I ever did was pushing her to stray.
I wanted her to toughen up, to match the blood we bled,
Instead, the world devoured her while I was gone ahead.

I trace the lines of silent grief that mark her porcelain cheek,
And kiss her fragile, trembling hand when she's too scared to speak.
My fierce, unbroken little love, so shattered and so sweet-
I'd burn this whole damn empire down to heal her at my feet.