The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

Henry’s House

Henry the VIII leads his six luckless wives
through Tudor corruption, power and lies.

Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess,
his own brother’s widow, now second-best,

is loyal and devout and bears him male heirs;
they all die as newborns ignoring her prayers.

So Henry divorces, flaunting the Pope,
to wed Anne Boleyn and fulfil his hope.

She fails in her duty; the King leaves her bed
and when she protests he cuts off her head.

Wedding Jane Seymour, the King has a son –
Edward the VI as he’ll one day become –

but Jane dies from childbirth. How the King grieves
for nearly three years then weds Anne of Cleaves.

Chosen by Cromwell, this staid foreign bride
is Henry’s fourth wife to stand by his side.

Henry’s unhappy; Anne wisely consents
to annul the marriage and follow events:

Catherine Howard is wed on the day
that Cromwell’s beheaded, charged with foul play.

That lesson’s not learned by Henry’s new wife –
free with her favours he shortens her life.

Henry’s now spent all his money on wars,
is painfully fat and suffers from sores,

yet marries again, despite his poor health,
to Catherine Parr, a widow with wealth.

Henry’s successor, frail Edward, just nine,
disowns his half-sisters also in line,

but when he dies young, Queen Mary’s proclaimed
though Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth’s named

Queen of all England; for decades she reigns
then crowns are united by Scottish King James.

About the Writer


Anne Eyries

Anne left the UK last century to work at Château de la Muette where, 200 years earlier, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and le Marquis d’Arlandes made the first manned, untethered ascent aboard a hot air balloon designed and built by the brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. Anne still lives in France and has writing published or forthcoming in Consilience, Cranked Anvil, Dream Catcher, Feral, Green Ink Poetry, Moss Puppy Magazine, Mslexia, Reflex Press, The Hyacinth Review, The Piker Press, and others.