The quiet maiden dusts her laundry with an adept flick of wrists and a resounding SNAP
as she flings the cloth with
a calm grace over the clothesline.

The whole town was celebrating
Raucous cheers
An extravagant carriage paraded
through formerly humble streets

Pausing in her chores, the maiden
hesitantly, carefully,
peeks through the crack between the sheets
to see a lady with an ethereal beauty in the window

Glowing in her happiness
with cheeks as red as the evening sky.
The white stallions carried her
to her prince,

Prince Charming
Kingly in looks
Charming to all, charmed by none other
than the beautiful belle of cinders

The maiden turns away, her small feet throbbing
against the cobbles she was chained to
A memory of the charming prince in her mind,
Dancing in his embrace

The sounds of the music in the air as crisp
as the wind blowing through her skirts
The night of the ball
Almost perfect, a bliss unlike any she’d felt

The town had been alive with murmurs
Of the Prince finding his bride
With naught but a glass slipper
How funny.

She, too, lost a glass slipper
Returning home from the fantasy of the Prince’s arms
But who’s to tell, whether it be hers,
Or the princess in the carriage

The maiden wrings the water from another sheet
As the cheers fell to a low hum in the distance
She stowed away the useless thought
And carried on with the day’s chores.