Little Theodora
dances in the circus
sleeps in the market
often cold and hungry
sells herself.
Everybody loves her
the soldiers and the sailors
and the market-traders
all say, "You can have a good time
with little Theodora."
But have patience, Theodora,
for soon you will become
a pious Empress
powerful and proud
and hated by everyone.
(The picture is a mosaic of the Empress Theodora, wife of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, in the basilica of S. Vitale, Ravenna)
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