The Eternal and the Instant

Forever is a long time indeed.

Much longer than any long you’ve ever seen.

It’s longer than a whale, minding its own business in the ocean blue,

longer than a wolf’s howl towards a waxing moon.

Longer than the tall grass that sways in the prairie,

longer than any man or woman has ever stayed married –

til death do them part.

But it’s longer than death itself,

when death melts

into the cold atoms of the universe,

forever I’ll still be cursed.

Forever is what the witch said,

and forever is what it shall be.

My parents have tried their best,

but their efforts have been beat.

I am the one they called Briar Rose –

whatever that might mean in the context of eternity.

Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?

I counter –

why do names matter at all when the world eventually heats and dies

with me still asleep on it?

Perhaps in a different time,

one where people still remembered the secrets of sage and thyme,

the importance of ceremonies and wiccan crafts, in the olden age,

someone would have remembered Briar Rose.

No man has ever known eternity, but they were close in the days

when the country was poor,

where firelight tales galore

were all that the people could hoard.

When people had patience to hail each other good day,

the memory to dance at the darling buds in May,

the belief to set out cream for the fairyfolks’ stay.

But these are days of instant message and instant noodles,

where the passage of time is no longer tolerated in oodles and oodles,

and now we chase the opposite of eternity.

No man would ever brave the thorns that surround my castle

when they have Tinder if they ever wanted to tussle.

No one even remembers that I am trapped in these dark woods,

because talking is now capped by the character, so why would

anyone tell stories?

So as attention spans grow shorter,

my potential Prince Charming is more and more

unlikely to hike up these castle steps to save me.

I, the modern day Sleeping Beauty, am now condemned to eternity

because society is no longer capable

of taking its time to find me.