Broken

A long, long time ago,
When the dodo used to crow,
A queen sat upon her throne,
No one saw her heart of stone.

She ruled wisely and well
But no one could tell,
Whether she really cared,
And to ask her, none dared.

Her subjects wore fine clothes and gold
But their smiles were mirthless and cold,
In their queen's stone heart they saw
That obedience and strictness was her law.

One fine day a toddler of three,
Crawled out of his crib and finding it free,
Stole and ate his mother's cookies,
Not knowing that she made a living selling goodies.

That good lady raised a hue and cry
When the queen enquired why,
She accused her jealous friend
Of stealing to meet her selfish ends.

The fight dragged on for days
The queen with her impatient ways,
Cried, "Hang the woman! Dismiss the case!"
When there entered a man in tailcoats and lace.

"Your Honor", said the stranger,
"I don't want this woman dead,"
"She did not steal the food,
The baby of the owner is no good."

The queen, now tired of such goings-on,
Cried, "Hang this woman's accursed son!"
As the woman wept and pleaded,
The queen was furious her word went unheeded.

She sentenced the woman to the same fate,
As they dragged both victims to the gallows' gate,
The woman cried vindictively,
"I hope God punishes you terribly!"

The queen laughed, and took no note,
As she went into her bedroom fort,
She looked into the mirror, and saw,
Those things emerge when you have an inner flaw.

Her skin was white and radiant,
But her hands grew bony and translucent
Holding court grew tedious and painful,
Being a queen was now a handful.

Cancer back then was unheard of,
The doctors said it was consumption, that would 'go off,'
The pain wracked her dying body
She began to escape with toddy.

In a drunken stupor, one night,
She saw her handsome prince, shining bright,
He had broken her heart decades ago,
But here he stood, smiling and aglow.

"Come to me, sweet darling!
Too long I've been waiting!
Petunia was a poor choice,
I've been living 'til now hearing your voice."

"Come with me, give me your hand,
Your beauty, your spirit; oh, how grand!
I'll love till hell's fire burns me to ash,
To leave you was utterly foolish and rash."

The queen gazed at the apparition,
And listened desperately to his rendition,
Carried on a hazy cloud of drink
She laughed, crooned, let herself sink...

She walked to the window, she stretched her hand
She saw her soldiers forming a merry band
Imposters! They had betrayed her to the enemy!
But her eyes were full of the man only she could see.

Whose death she had ordered, long ago,
But surely, they had let him go.
He loved her still! Indeed, how could he not?
She climbed the window sill in one shot.

In that minute, she felt like a bird,
Her stone heart disappeared, her broken one stirred,
She hoisted her flowing skirt, and bit her lip
She braced herself, tingling to her every fingertip...
She jumped, flying, laughing, feeling herself born anew...

The woman's curse came true.