18th May, 1536, Tower of London
From Anne the Quene to Her Grace, Princess Elizabeth Tudor of Wales,
This shall be the last letter I ever write, and I would not see it written to anyone but you, my only daughter. From my window I watch the dusk ebb away, and the sky flare up like a blushing rose; twilight of this new day, my last day, has come.
They will make sure that you never know me, my Elizabeth, and if they do me, they will see that you know me as the lewd, traitorous whore your father created and destroyed. Still I urge you to love him because though the fiery passion with which he once loved me soured he always made an effort to love you despite your mother.
Very soon I will go forward and die disgraced, humiliated, but for now I urge you to live as I have. When I was just a child in the court of Margaret of Austria, and then in that French court of Marguerite of Navarre, I had a taste of what true living, exciting living, was, and in time I hope that you will heed my advice and continue to change this world where I could not.
I have charged my own chaplain Matthew Parker with your spiritual care and he has assured me that he will bring you up according to the faith I myself would have chosen for you. This is an age of reform in every way imaginable, and perhaps someday you will live in an England where the religious books I read might be celebrated as the paragons of truth that I know them to be. In matters of church you may not always be your own leader; your father was ever-generous with me, and I am thankful for it, that he allowed me to preside over his clergy, appoint his men, endorse the English Bible, and even spare heretics who might have suffered deaths more shameful than mine shall certainly be.
Whatever your faith I hope that you will sympathize with the persecuted and be a friend to those who show you kindness; I fear that, because of who your mother is, there will be few who do. Dawn approaches; I must finish. Sweet girl, I fear that you may never be queen; but regardless you must be the most learned princess that you can. Let your sex not hamper your mind; develop opinions, share opinions. This world is vain, this world is lascivious; love God but follow that word of Ecclesiastes and live every day knowing the next one might be taken from you without preamble.
Lastly I warn you, from a woman condemned to the beautiful woman someday you shall be, of the treachery of men. Men will rule you, Elizabeth, and they will lead you by your desire and by their promises; but know that you must lead men by their passion and with your half-promises. That is the only way. I have no shame in that I was not the icy mother to you that a queen ought to be with her litter. I have loved you as your father loves you, but they will never let you know that.
— Anne the Quene
From Anne the Quene to Her Grace, Princess Elizabeth Tudor of Wales,
This shall be the last letter I ever write, and I would not see it written to anyone but you, my only daughter. From my window I watch the dusk ebb away, and the sky flare up like a blushing rose; twilight of this new day, my last day, has come.
They will make sure that you never know me, my Elizabeth, and if they do me, they will see that you know me as the lewd, traitorous whore your father created and destroyed. Still I urge you to love him because though the fiery passion with which he once loved me soured he always made an effort to love you despite your mother.
Very soon I will go forward and die disgraced, humiliated, but for now I urge you to live as I have. When I was just a child in the court of Margaret of Austria, and then in that French court of Marguerite of Navarre, I had a taste of what true living, exciting living, was, and in time I hope that you will heed my advice and continue to change this world where I could not.
I have charged my own chaplain Matthew Parker with your spiritual care and he has assured me that he will bring you up according to the faith I myself would have chosen for you. This is an age of reform in every way imaginable, and perhaps someday you will live in an England where the religious books I read might be celebrated as the paragons of truth that I know them to be. In matters of church you may not always be your own leader; your father was ever-generous with me, and I am thankful for it, that he allowed me to preside over his clergy, appoint his men, endorse the English Bible, and even spare heretics who might have suffered deaths more shameful than mine shall certainly be.
Whatever your faith I hope that you will sympathize with the persecuted and be a friend to those who show you kindness; I fear that, because of who your mother is, there will be few who do. Dawn approaches; I must finish. Sweet girl, I fear that you may never be queen; but regardless you must be the most learned princess that you can. Let your sex not hamper your mind; develop opinions, share opinions. This world is vain, this world is lascivious; love God but follow that word of Ecclesiastes and live every day knowing the next one might be taken from you without preamble.
Lastly I warn you, from a woman condemned to the beautiful woman someday you shall be, of the treachery of men. Men will rule you, Elizabeth, and they will lead you by your desire and by their promises; but know that you must lead men by their passion and with your half-promises. That is the only way. I have no shame in that I was not the icy mother to you that a queen ought to be with her litter. I have loved you as your father loves you, but they will never let you know that.
— Anne the Quene
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now
A promise lives within you now
were lines that i couldn't change
i was lost, oh yeah
i was lost, i was lost
crossed lines i shouldn't have crossed
i was lost, oh yeah
yeah, how long must you wait for it?
yeah, how long must you pay for it?
yeah, how long must you wait for it?
i was scared, i was scared
tired and underprepared
but i'll wait for it
if you go, if you go
and leave me down here on my own
then i'll wait for you
yeah, how long must you wait for it?
yeah, how long must you pay for it?
yeah, how long must you wait for it?
singin' please, please, please
come back and sing to me
to me, me
come on and sing it out, now, now
come on and sing it out,
to me, me
come back and sing
in my place, in my place
were lines that i couldn't change
I was lost, oh yeah
oh yeah