Bramble - poetry repost.
Once, I would have promised you forever.
Once, so very long ago - when the stars where still bright
Before the world had shifted on its axis,
Before the mountain fell, tumbling down its side
Into the dull waters of the lake of the worlds.
Before the Blue Queen's key fell to the floor
and softly vanished into the ankle deep
dust of dreams and memories
and the white bones of wishes and dreams.
That was before, and this is after.
Before the brambles grew up
and chocked and smothered the soft sandstone walls
of my castle with its rock-doves perched
on the delicate slate-tiled towers
where we welcomed the dawn each day as a lover.
Before, when my roses were still as red,
as the single drop of blood welling from my finger,
before they became bleached by sorrow
and their petals heavy, laden with sleep
as my whole world slept and left me alone.
I slept, so you thought for a hundred years
of men, passing and turning by the walls,
the waterfalls and the lake full of tears.
I did not sleep - they slept, and I did not.
I did not sleep for a hundred years,
not when the mountain fell, nor when
the doves flew south, their feathers gray.
I did not sleep when the brambles twined themselves
through the brown of my hair. I could not sleep.
I saw it all, the dust, the cobweb-dreams,
the snow flakes falling through the roof,
fluttering through the holes where the slate slipped
and crashed to the ground - even then
I could not sleep. I was trapped unmoving,
as the brambles took over my world,
clawing themselves into the silks and velvets
lace and brocades of my castle, my only world.
And I could not sleep. The key was lost,
And I could not sleep.
And then you came, walking through the brambles
safe from the thorns in your steel coat,
through my sad lost world of tears and bones
and sleep. Did you think I slept? Did you think
you would surprise me when you pulled the brambles
From my tangled hair and pushed the strands
from my still face? What did you think as you
pressed your warm lips to my cold ones and watched
as the warmth returned to my face, and my open eyes
blinked closed, as they had not done for a hundred years.
Once I would have promised you forever,
when you pulled the helmet from your head
and your hair fell from it, the color of the sun,
streaked with the light of the moon and stars,
spilling over my hands as I held it, trying
to draw the color back into my breath.
Once, though not now, my love, for that was before
and this is after, and the key is lost in time
never to be found, even as sleep returns to me,
and the sleepers about me wake.
Once, my love, I would have spun the moon
and sun and stars from your hair.
Once, Princess, but not now - the Blue Queen's key is lost.
But even after, the doves return and the rose buds
are red once more in the slanting evening sunlight.
And we can stand, fingers laced together
my head laid soft on your shoulder and we watch
together as the sun sinks into the lake of the world
as the tears of a hundred years
fall from my eyes, one by one into the waters.
Once, so very long ago - when the stars where still bright
Before the world had shifted on its axis,
Before the mountain fell, tumbling down its side
Into the dull waters of the lake of the worlds.
Before the Blue Queen's key fell to the floor
and softly vanished into the ankle deep
dust of dreams and memories
and the white bones of wishes and dreams.
That was before, and this is after.
Before the brambles grew up
and chocked and smothered the soft sandstone walls
of my castle with its rock-doves perched
on the delicate slate-tiled towers
where we welcomed the dawn each day as a lover.
Before, when my roses were still as red,
as the single drop of blood welling from my finger,
before they became bleached by sorrow
and their petals heavy, laden with sleep
as my whole world slept and left me alone.
I slept, so you thought for a hundred years
of men, passing and turning by the walls,
the waterfalls and the lake full of tears.
I did not sleep - they slept, and I did not.
I did not sleep for a hundred years,
not when the mountain fell, nor when
the doves flew south, their feathers gray.
I did not sleep when the brambles twined themselves
through the brown of my hair. I could not sleep.
I saw it all, the dust, the cobweb-dreams,
the snow flakes falling through the roof,
fluttering through the holes where the slate slipped
and crashed to the ground - even then
I could not sleep. I was trapped unmoving,
as the brambles took over my world,
clawing themselves into the silks and velvets
lace and brocades of my castle, my only world.
And I could not sleep. The key was lost,
And I could not sleep.
And then you came, walking through the brambles
safe from the thorns in your steel coat,
through my sad lost world of tears and bones
and sleep. Did you think I slept? Did you think
you would surprise me when you pulled the brambles
From my tangled hair and pushed the strands
from my still face? What did you think as you
pressed your warm lips to my cold ones and watched
as the warmth returned to my face, and my open eyes
blinked closed, as they had not done for a hundred years.
Once I would have promised you forever,
when you pulled the helmet from your head
and your hair fell from it, the color of the sun,
streaked with the light of the moon and stars,
spilling over my hands as I held it, trying
to draw the color back into my breath.
Once, though not now, my love, for that was before
and this is after, and the key is lost in time
never to be found, even as sleep returns to me,
and the sleepers about me wake.
Once, my love, I would have spun the moon
and sun and stars from your hair.
Once, Princess, but not now - the Blue Queen's key is lost.
But even after, the doves return and the rose buds
are red once more in the slanting evening sunlight.
And we can stand, fingers laced together
my head laid soft on your shoulder and we watch
together as the sun sinks into the lake of the world
as the tears of a hundred years
fall from my eyes, one by one into the waters.