Last dowager amongst a “Forbidden City”,

golden chopsticks, and ebony boxes that held plenty.

A life of royalty that came not easy;

raising to unrivaled power many believed sleazy.

Broke barriers, and changed laws,

ruthless perhaps for a just cause.

150 dishes,

a floating summer palace,

a dynasty enveloped upon prestige and lavish.

Queen of Britain no match for the Mandarin phoenix,

She her self could never comprehend such meaning.

Silks from the finest worms,

Jade of mother Africa,

oh hail the last empress dowager who fought her way up the Chinese political ladder.

In a time of oppression,

strategy was a must,

envious consorts mistaked her ideals for lust.

For a golden Qing moment;

a blip of beauty,

her judgment’s rectification upon Pu-Yi.