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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.”
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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
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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“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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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:
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“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.
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“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?”
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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…”
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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
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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.”
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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
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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:
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“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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.