In a land there was a queen
Some said she was good, some said she was mean
Some said she’d look better if she wore some more green
While some thought she’d look like a bean

Day after day, our dear little queen
Went to the mirror and herself did preen
While listening to her advisor Aileen
As this was her daily routine

Every day the queen and Aileen
Would talk about ribbons and buttons and things
And Aileen would also tell her dear queen
Everything that she could glean

From what the people said of their queen
Some of it nice, and some of it mean
Some of it falling somewhere between
Like the comments about her in green

Over time it angered the queen
That the people to her ears did seem
To rather not respect their queen
And her casual disliking of green

And so she told her advisor Aileen
To go to the town on December thirteen
Gather the people and tell them that she
Would not tolerate them venting their spleens

And so it was on December thirteen
The people gathered to hear fair Aileen
And as she delivered the message the queen
Had dictated, they caused quite a scene

“By edict of our dear gracious queen,
No one is allowed to say anything mean
About her majesty, the honourable queen
Or they will be jailed” said Aileen

By the time December sixteen
Rolled around, no fewer than thirteen
People had been jailed by the queen
As a result of her recent decree

Soon the people learnt that the queen
Was quite serious about her decree
And so they made sure to only be seen
To be praising their volatile queen

Day after day the queen and Aileen
Would talk about ribbons and buttons and things
And Aileen would also tell her dear queen
How the people were no longer mean

This report at first pleased the queen
Who enjoyed how nice the villagers now seemed
Until she realised that it may simply be
That the hatred was now just unseen

Weeks and months went by and the queen
Went gradually madder and frequently screamed
Because she no longer had certainty
That the villagers’ words they did mean

Until one day poor dear Aileen
When she went to the queen as was her routine
Found protruding from the chest of her queen
A dagger that glistened and gleamed

So say what you think and be what you seem
I won’t be offended if you sneer or demean
Honesty’s worth more than a mere dream
I’m a Fool, but at least I like green!