April 20 - Step-Sister's Lament

The prompt was to write a poem as the minor character in a fairy tale

I didn’t even want

to go to the ball

wearing this

ridiculous dress

that mother and sister

think is so posh

their dreams of

snagging a prince

not one of my own

I wanted to wear

long pants with

shiny black boots

a pirate shirt

billowing cape

with a saber

at my side

sans face paint

and curled wig

wearing only a

roguish smile

upon my lips as

I asked her to dance

this beauty I knew

as Cinderella

into whose

home I’d been thrust

by mother’s marriage

to her father

The first time that

I saw her amid

introductions all round

in morning’s light

among the roses

of her garden

my heart lurched so

that I thought

myself about to die

From that moment on

I lived for the sound

of her voice and

every waking moment

I sought reason

to spend with her

until her father’s

untimely death

and yes

I do wonder about that

when her life

changed in this house

from sibling to servant

under mother’s cruelty

that is such I dare not

attempt to play the hero

So here I sit alone

in this cage of the

feminine silk and tulle

watching her waltz

across the room with

the kingdom’s prince

knowing in this moment

that I will never be

a suitor for her heart

Mother arrives

admonishments fly

sit up straight

straighten your gown

smile pretty

at least pretend

you’re having

a good time for

the gentlemen here

it’s likely you’ll never

gain a prince

but a husband

of some kind

must be had

I watch her twirl

around the room

so light and beautiful

in his arms
that I desperately 

long to be mine

her rescue is at hand

but there is none

to be had for me…