• It was only a spinning wheel,
    A simple enough device,
    Until beauty’s life it did steal,
    Deceptive vice,

    But Rose didn’t suspect,
    Poor Beauty was unaware,
    She couldn’t resist,
    Temptation took her stare,
    Curiosity killed the cat,

    One small touch,
    And she was gone,
    Into unconscious realms and such,

    She stayed where she fell,
    Temporarily killed,
    By false and unnatural sleep,
    And what dreams did clench her thoughts as they milled?
    What would quench the shock,
    For what can one possibly dream about,
    For one hundred years of the ticking of a silent clock?

    Dark slumber passed,
    Into darker dreams,
    Mostly what would never be,
    Foreign lands and fairy tales,
    Princes she would never meet,
    Stories she would never hear,
    Love she would never know,

    Beauty’s part was not to know,
    About old prophecies,
    Foolish rhyme that would condemn a kingdom for show,
    And poor dear still didn’t know,
    Why she slept,

    And in her innocence,
    She dreamed of a savior,
    After the first fifty years,
    Although she added her own romantic behavior,

    She dreamed that princes near and far heard her tale,
    And came to rescue her,
    In a palace of clouds,
    Guarded by a fiery monster,
    She lay in a glass coffin in wait,
    Just like Charming for Snow White
    Just like Cinderella and her magic night,
    Just like Rapunzel’s dangerous plight,
    Her prince would come for her,
    With a perfect kiss,
    To restore her to the world,

    And at aurora’s rising,
    Did her wish come true,
    Out of a decade of darkness and despising,
    A prince’s kiss had called her home,

    The land awoke and all rejoiced,
    The two were soon wed,
    In their bliss so unaware,
    The world had left them behind in stead,

    Preserved in age but not in spirit,
    Dear Rose 84 years older than her groom,
    In a land and time so distant,
    From the one she’d known,

    Youth gave her innocence,
    And innocence gave her youth,
    But so unprepared was she,
    For the world beyond the books.