A/N: When Guinevere was caught cheating on Arthur with Lancelot, she fled to a nunnery. In this dramatic monologue, she explains her plight to a nun, blaming her plight on Elaine, the Lily-maid of Astolat, while also cursing her own foolishness and fancy. Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts by using the handy-dandy comment button below!
The anguish in my treacherous heart
It screams in agony
Knowing that the years apart
He has spent with one not me
Lancelot, the brave
Has murdered my tainted heart
Buried it in an unmarked grave
Left me without a chart
His mortal wounds were nothing
He scarred me greater
With nothing more than clothing
He betrayed the traitor
I, who had no freedom,
Gave him what I swore another
We brought rot to this opulent kingdom
As he betrayed his brother
Yet his freedom abounds
He is not bound to me
This maiden's sweet sounds
Have made it clear to see
She is nothing more than temptation
His will weaker than my own
He fell for such adoration
Lost all memory of me, back home
He wore HER favor?
After he rejected all else?
He might have lost my love forever
I can feel the slowing of my pulse
This has all come about because of HER
This Lily-maid of Astolat
Smelling of frankincense and murr
She stole my Lancelot
My beauty must be failing
As the years take their toll
But I am not yet flailing
For his heart, to take hold
SHE must be young of face
And fair of heart
To take my place
In sweet Lancelot's heart
Was I just as carefree?
When I laid eyes on him first?
When Lancelot came for me
When he sated my thirst
For someone brave and strong,
And handsome and true
'Twas not your king for long
Dear Lancelot, 'twas you
Had you hoped to keep this tryst
Of yours from me?
Of this you may trust:
A traitor knows of treachery
The shield came back
Before the man
My love, his duties slack
Does he even have a plan?
He came to me the other day
With diamonds in his hand
He knelt down as if to pray
And I hurled them in the sand
Those were no longer radiant jewels
His heart had stolen their fire
They were now merely tools
To gain back my heart, the liar
I should have made him stay
I commanded him to go
He galloped off to play
Leaving me all alone
Did I honestly think
That I could tame such a man?
Nay, not a man, I should think,
Yet his guise is of such a man
He has sinned, unlike Arthur
He could love me, unlike my kings
For him I betrayed his Arthur
For all those sweet nothings
Has SHE sinned?
That fair lily-maiden
She has against me; the end
Is coming, my pulse, it's fading
I heard that he scorned her attempt
To proclaim her love
I laughed in contempt
At the young little dove
But truly at my own treachery
How could I think
That it should gladden me
What does He think?
Should it be considered adultery
When he set eyes
First on me?
When my heart dies?
When his wanders to another's
How could my treacherous heart believe
He had no other lovers
That he had eyes only for me?
Perhaps he had grown weary
Of betraying his brother
So instead (mine eyes now teary)
He betrays his lover?
The King was pleased
The knights as well
The bravest was now appeased
As anyone could tell
My truest fright
His fullest betrayal
He had found his knight
Yet she wore no mail!
Her battle apparel was scant
Her act a flower
Enough for any man to pant
My Lancelot was her within the hour
He claimed he held no affection
Yet when the lifeless lily washed up
His eyes bled clear with strange affliction
Enough to fill my empty cup
Alas! The end is near
I know I have sinned
And given all that is dear
My pulse is at an end
My heart is now dead
My beauty immortal
Such as the maiden I viewed with dread
Blind passion, so mortal