Waking was painful.
*
Sleep had been such a boon
And I wished it could go on
For ever.
*
My fat, sluggish body
Had become repulsive to me.
I saw my reflection in a dewdrop
And wished that I could die.
*
Unable to help myself,
I spun.
I withdrew from the world.
I laboured mightily,
Spinning, spinning, spinning.
I was obsessed.
All that mattered
Was that I should hide away,
Reject a world of beauty.
I was unworthy.
*
I created my own prison.
But it was more than a prison;
It was a shelter, a haven, a cell,
Where I could play dead.
*
I lay, enclosed.
*
Outside were
Lovely blossoms,
Brilliantly feathered birds,
Trees weighed down with magnificence.
What right had I to compete?
Call it an inferiority complex
If you like.
I only know that I sought sleep
As an escape.
*
At last, I slept,
Unknowing, uncaring, unthinking.
*
Then I woke.
And oh the pain!
Every part of me ached!
I felt sticky, constricted, spiky, odd.
It was a nightmare.
I had hated myself,
But not this much!
What was happening to me?
I had to escape!
This was a living hell!
I stretched, pushed, crumbled, splintered, yawned
And emerged.
I blinked in the sunlight,
Still shaken.
*
It was later that I discovered
That I was one of the most beautiful things on earth!
*
------------------------------------------------------------------
CINDERELLA
(An Acrostic)
Cruelty surrounds you as you wait
Impatiently there alone by the sooty grate
Not for you the excitement of the ball!
Not for you the excitement of the ball!
Denied to you the magnificence of it all.
Even the Ugly Sisters feel the thrill!
Rejection they've achieved; they wish you ill.
Evil is going to win! There's no way out!
Loneliness is your lot, there is no doubt.
Listen! There comes a tapping at the door!
A Fairy Godmother's here! Find out what for!
*
