Before I nodded off to sleep at night
Mama would tell me a fairy tale
The princess meets her dear prince
“And then what next, Ma?’
A finger to her lips, she’d smile
“I’ll let you read the book tomorrow.”
When the sun came up
She pointed to the upstairs attic
There, I sat on a dusty wooden floor
The prince dances with his princess
To the sound of ten drums, violins
Trumpets and twenty lyres
Downstairs, Ma and Pa, danced
To the beat of angry voices, cries
Slamming doors, breaking china
The royal couple now happily wed
Had a bonny daughter in the end
Clambering down the stairs, I went
“They loved their princess, Ma!”
Pa slapped me in the face very hard
“You and your fairy tales!”
Perhaps I had read the story wrong
Nights before I fell asleep
I told myself another fairy tale
Of a princess with a broken heart
Crying silently in front of the mirror
My story book went back in the attic, now
Covered in cobwebs, dust
Dried tears, and ghostly laughter—
Ma, you knew it would end that way
Didn’t you?
-Kelly Conlon-
