When Izy at Real Toads challenged us to write about our favorite female icon I didn't know which direction to go, but I decided upon the warrior queen Boadicea. She was a mother beaten by Roman soldiers who then in turn was forced to witness the brutal rape of her two daughters. With a lioness's heart she led the Iceni into battle against the Romans who had pillaged her kingdom and children.
Boadicea Haranguing the
Britons by John Opie
Hell came with flaming hair
to demand its pound of Roman Flesh.
Boadicea raised her sword
from the tears of her daughters
whose bodies lay pillaged by soldiers’ rape.
Boots pounding avengement’s
cadence into the soil,
she led the Iceni into battle.
Camulodeunm and Londinium felt
the wrath of the warrior queen
in rivers of blood and burning torch.
History questions the site
of her final battle, but does
not question a mother’s heart.
Boadicea was a mother turned warrior
when the Romans made her children
their human spoils of war.
©Susie Clevenger 2012
Written for Real Toads Out of Standard with Izy
Comments
Hell hath no fury like a mother's!
♥
She most definitely was a hero [heroine sounds to soft for her].
One of these people you don't believe could possibly have existed, but there are enough accounts that prove she did do all that is written about her.
Such a good celebration of her in your poem.
of her final battle, but does
not question a mother’s heart."
Which you show in all its beautiful fierceness:
"Boadicea raised her sword from the tears of her daughters"
This is a lovely tribute to a woman who was a lioness of a mother and who wouldn't be bowed by the might of Rome. :)
K