Snow White

1 On winter’s morn at waiting window ledge The Queen so merely mends some ripped socks By blackened boards that cased the glassen edge And held a scene of cold and southern flocks Who fly from frost, which covers trees and rocks And flee the snow, so white with crystals bright Whose shape, not single flake alike; it shocks In dainty small designs adorn, as might A diamond carved with curves, enhancing lust’rous light 2 And huddled herds of fancied flakes do crawl And inch by inch, do cover ground so brown That blankets blades decayed from somber Fall And dresses Nature white in icy gown; Encasing farms and huts and homes in town This sight the Queen beheld, but finger poke While lost in thought did cause her blood drip down To raven wood, where hues contrast and stoke The Queen to wish for baby’s looks as hues provoke 3 The next of day the babe was due and birth Began, and Queen for prior day’s request, Shall pay the price in Nature’s purse; so earth Did turn her back to dust and King did quest And search of lady hour per hour for best Int’rest of daughter’s care, so king did find A witch with one pursuit: the regal crest With vain and greedy lust her soul so pined The throne; yet speaking evil spells she made him blind 4 As blind as Tiresias, King’s respite And witch did cloud encumbered brain so bad That ruler lacked proper prophet’s foresight And vile and wicked spirit made him glad Awhile and using guile the Queen then clad Herself in woven gown where doubt, deceit And death did thread the blacken cloth so mad That men with hearts of steel still fell; d’feat And death her loins did claim; this trap the King did meet 5 Upon the wedding night her bosom bare In baneful sheets as black as Night’s fair cape Arranged around the bed were flames with care And candles close to bloody satin drape Disperse the shades on Rose’s petals fair; This King did try and finish marriage vows, And coming close; as close as good does dare, She wraps her wily legs to him arouse Then strikes as snake to take the thrown as death allows 6 With Royal death, the Queen then reigned, And Princess White, in arms of mindful maid, Who evil witch so beat and bruised, ordained That White be treated mean; then Queen did bade Her taught the wicked ways of witch’s trade But maid so ‘membered King and Queen of old And taught the girl of Queenly traits; those made Of strength, and love of kindness good and bold Under the witch’s nose these secret lessons told 7 And growing greatly gorgeous, young and free The Princess named of Snow so White did pass With beauty fair and true the Queen’s decree That only looking false to oval holding glass Which told her truth: her beauty none surpass Until the day of Princess’s seventeenth At Queen’s inquiry, “Mirror made of glass Whose looks are fairest?” Mirror’s rippled sheen Replied, “The Princess White, deposing thee, my Queen.” 8 Such anger brewed beneath her cheeks that red Did flush on apples high on sunken slits That held her eyes so black with rage and dead With ice that pierced the soul and blood so spits And bursts in white with vessels blown to bits; Her jaw did clench as tight as godly grip Of Hercules and scream as child in fits; So birds did flock from noise that sky did rip She raved but stopped with mirror’s quake in fear of chip 9 And quaking quit; at fear and rage it laughed In fact, the glass had wagged all wild with glee Not fear, as Queen was wont to think; its craft Of truth, it told with wicked words and free Of humble tact, with pain, it played its spree Upon its maker’s vain and jealous ways And quothe she “Mocking Mirror, bold are ye!” To Witch the glass replied, “The youth of days That passed, restored may be and live as young always.” 10 She cocked her brow, a hand on hip and said: “And how?” and mirror laughed again, but stops For best not press his luck, unless as bread All cracked his days do end; so states “She tops The goodly people; yet if beauty’s hops And heaves of heart do halt, and second place Does kill the girl, obtains this heart and chops This organ fine, then dine and leave no trace To earn eternal life and youth fulfill thy face.” 11 Enthralled in bliss, the Queen then searched the land For man with proper skill of blade and bow And Huntsman came at royal mouth’s command That girl does take a permanent furlough But bring her back the heart, then Queen says “Go! At dusk she skips to sacred wood, there lies A dear, my boy and wounds do hurt this doe And Princess White,” she sneers, “will stay. She cries For nothing; kill her, bring her heart, and watch her eyes.” 12 “All clear,” he states “but ‘watch her eyes’? Well, why?” The Queen’s small smile serenely said, “To tell Upon return: describe how life does fly, The light from angel’s eyes and chest does fell With final breath.” He turned and left her Hell, A place of wicked deeds, and thought of girl’s Soon slaughter, taking vital part from knell Of chest for Witch to eat; his stomach curls, He chooses saving Princess White, and plan unfurls 13 She drinks of stream by doe near dead and spies A flash of speedy hunter draped with green And browning cloak as trees with wooded guise He stops at girl and tells of treach’ry mean So fleeing fast to woods unknown, unseen And under fall of Night, so black and bleak, The shade so hides the holes that cause careen; Her fall so steep, and lofty hill so sleek From rain, that down she sped and faints in solemn creak. 14 So princess sleeps in safety’s bed, but Witch Still needs her healthy heart from beauty’s breast And man returns heart of pig, with which He fools the Queen, and smiling, asks the rest, Him states, “This watching none could test, For eyes did close with dying breath.” And frown Did form on wrinkly brow, but heart was jest For heart was goal and Queen him dismissed to town And Huntsman fled with fleeing feet without renown. 15 When rising rays of Ra did ride so true Upon her face, the Princess White awakes To cottage simple brown with shades of blue And pebble stones that lead from door to lakes So pure, pristine, and prime, with sounds it makes Of rippled ponds and birds that sing along To ev’ry creature’s song, the note so takes A part in life, that nothing seems at wrong Her walking near the house did dance and sing and throng 16 When vibrant paint did hide the rotted sides And faded greens so blended mossy wood The house had held some worth and wrongly guides The trav’ler far from hidden home so good For deeply grained in bark with gold as should A scepter carved with knife and set with gems And smelted gold that filled the carves as would So fill the trees that sew this house’s hems That grainy gold does twine in veins of bark and stems 17 And through the glass in panes of dirt and grime Miss White could see a room of smaller scale And opened door so wide. When bell did chime To strike on noon, and tunes abound the vale With whistling notes, a troop of men did sail All short with beards and axes swaying low To make the make echoing through the dale. The seven men did hush and halt their flow When girl so stood in home of dwarves to where they go 18 With start they rushed with little legs so quick And called and questioned name and place and cause. So crying helpless dame was scared and sick And tiny men did look at girl and pause To sense her pain and fright; their hearts she thaws With tears and sobs; the dwarves did soothe and calm Her tale of terror’s flight from evil’s claws And men did listen close to victim’s qualm; Then dwarves did choose to make the new girl welcome: 19 “So, lady, fair and true, we need a friend And adding person plus the clan, is eight; So won’t you make the even number’s end?” Did ask the dwarf with glasses, crooked gait And smartly air; she quothe, “That sounds so great!” With smiles and laughs and grinning going ‘round, The party forgoes names and things to state When dwarf of shy rapport did stand and sound His voice and name he gave, and made his friends confound. 20 “The name is Bashful, shy and silent,” said The first with downward eyes and ruddy cheeks, And next the dwarf with glasses, “Doc” he read From sooty tag, for dingy words he seeks, So spoke, “Am I so born of brain’s high peaks? Or I, the dwarf of brain’s own game do play?” A little man says “Oh, sit down! You geeks, And freaks, all yapping, gumming… anyway, The name is Grumpy; anybody else today?” 21 And next a dwarf of runny nose did say: “The name is Sn-,” a-choo! “is Sn-“ a-choo! “is Sn-“ a—”eezy, thanks;” did sneeze allay At least for time enough to state the who Of dwarf so wrought and raw with nasal flu Then man with glee did sing, “My name does joy And smiles so bring, that Happy I be true.” Followed with snores and sounds of dreams enjoy, The dwarf asleep in fits did yawn as, “Sleepy, oy…” 22 And fin’ly dwarf so slow did state, “Uh, Do-, Hm… Dopey! I am Dopey!” said tiny man And motley crew did look at Princess Snow So young, with blacken strands that wax and wan In ev’ry way, and flow without a plan About her face so pale and fair that clears The cheeks so full of red her lashes pan When eyes of blue, and ring of gold appears And floats upon her head and glows above her ears 23 And while the Witch did watch from castle’s throne, She thought the girl done; dead without a heart, And passing mirror, Queen did want so known Who held the title as beautiful as art. When mirror’s fact of “Princess White” does part The glass’s silver face, the Queen so gripped The hilt of mirror’s pane, and screams “Impart The land where White will wake, or be a chipped And cracked cast, if silver tongue lets lies be lipped.” 24 With calm décor, the glass so states “the men Of mines so hold her now, with clan’s enclose.” Then Queen did whisk her cape and down to den She slips with evil demons; spirits pose To serve her malevolent ways, depose The good and just, with poisoned apple prime And Princess Snow shall bite the bloody rose Of fruit’s so lovely make, and die in time For Queen to reign and rant as wretched witch sublime 25 By boat through moat and muck, did witch so trudge And only wicked spells, magick, and chants Did cause the creaky boat to even budge And creeping close to croaks of toads, the plants That hid her loudly steps, with guise that grants less notice; Princess White who cooked and cleaned For men in mines, that warned of danger’s chance The stranger ‘proaching now, with fruits so gleaned To shine so bright, that Snow did stop and ask the fiend: 26 “May I not see that apple, ma’am?” she asks, And Queen retorts, “Of course, see here my dear.” With lady’s smile and sweetly voice, she masks The witch beneath the guise, and states with cheer: “Perhaps a bite will make the choice more clear?” And teeth did sink in apple’s poisoned pall With witch’s cackled laugh that ‘spires such fear The dwarves did run so fast to cottage small To see the witch go poof! and White’s so deadly fall. 27 When men did reach their lovely beauty, Snow The Doc did check her vital signs and sighs And dwarves did choose to make a case and go To gather parts for glassen coffin size And plan for diamond chest for girl that lies With silken sheets to match the lily’s face When perfect pieces put in proper ties Did ‘semble, one dwarf did stand and pace, But task at hand, he hunched humble, pursed in place. 28 Whose beard did tangle, ‘twined with sticks and vines, A dwarf, of rocky hills and sundered caves That wrinkles wrought from frowning long, had lines To show his awful mood and rudely raves Of birds that sing and joy they bring; with waves, His anger reigned and Grumpy, sad, did flow With tears upon the glass that now engraves: A diamond casing cloaks the silken throw That holds a dame as beautiful and cold as snow 29 As Luna, lost with pale and lonely rays So softly states with whispered words to Night To blanket stars and blot the sky with ways In voided space to ink the earthen light; And hearing hurt in Luna’s plea, hid tight The other’s light and crowding close with care, And darkness, hugging Luna’s might, made bright The earth, so pale that Moon’s pure light shone fair— So shone Miss Snow, her face as white against her hair. 30 This lovely lady’s ‘luminated case With panes that play with passing sunny shine, As Phoebus dares, his dance did dawn her face, This bade the plants to grow to golden shrine And Lilies want her opal skin, and pine The Hops her long and lengthy lashes; see Her lips so crimson, challenging fair, so fine And bloody Roses; Lilacs aptly all agree Her beauty far exceeds the butterfly and bee. 31 This shine was overcast as Prince passed by With sad and sickened clan of men who fight The urge of broken heart, the need to cry And him, on gallant steed to aid their plight And help with hands that foes doth fear the sight Of him with blade as sharp as dragon claw His strength surpassed Warring Mars in might This knight, so stopped: in cradled coffin saw The flowers’ fevered fancy: perfect Princess White 32 So struck by beauty, Prince did kiss this Miss And Love did look upon the scene and spill A redly bottle: Heaven’s cloudy bliss Where clear and true without a hew, like pill It flew to Snow’s repose; the serum’s fill Was forged by Love of love, the drink’s rescue So dissolved the apple’s chunks that kill And save the beauty’s life a kiss that few Do taste, and Princess lives from kiss so true.