On reading Victoria

If only
all children -
grand and not so -
with feet on this earth
could read

and all people -
partnered and not -
on this mortal coil
could relate
without hate
and retell

this story:
written to
"hack through myths,
not to hew them."

Of a reign
with power and might -
though not all ways -
"victorious"
that spawned her
kaiser grandson's hates
and her empire's double foes.

Would that we all
could learn to tell
and live out different
tales – to more simply
live in peace.