Not a Princess

Once Upon a Time

There was a princess

No, a girl

Just a girl

But her daddy, her daddy told her she was a princess

the most beautiful one in the world, he said

He built a moat to keep her safe

Trained his soldiers to keep danger at bay

Gave her the best governesses

The best clothes

 The best food

 The best toys

The best dogs

The best instructors

He gave her the best hoping she would be the best

He worked long hours, days and nights, to make sure she would be alright

 He gave her everything a little girl could want

But you see, he forgot to give her love

While the king of the castle was away

Training soldiers

 Searching for gold

He left his princess with these things

But these things

These beautiful things

They could never teach her how to love

While the king of the castle was away

Beasts came in the night

And while her daddy had promised her a prince one day

The fairytales had promised her a prince

No prince came to rescue her from the depths of darkness

No prince

No king

No prince

No king

No princess

Almost

Almost no princess

The beasts starved the princess

They wanted her to shrink

The beasts told the princess she was not enough

They didn’t want her to believe

The beasts told the princess she would be better off dead

They didn’t want her alive

Her father had lied

How could he have lied

Where did he go

Why isn’t he here

Daddy, help

There wasn’t anyone there

Just the princess

Her demons

And the darkness

No love to save her

The princess picked up a sword

The princess tried to pick up a sword

But swords are heavy

They take training and instruction

There was no one to teach her how to pick up a sword

But she tried

And tried

And tried

It took weeks

Months

Years maybe

She didn’t recognize herself anymore

But she learned to pick up the sword

And fight

She could not

Should not

Would not let the beasts win

They would not take her

Once Upon a Time

A king had a daughter

A princess

He gave her almost everything

But almost was not enough

So she taught herself to fight

Daddy said she was a princess

She was not a princess

She was a queen