The Fairytale Wakes

9 - Be Beautiful

Be beautiful, they said

Beautiful enough

to be saved

(to save us)

So I did up my hair

And drew my corset tight

(until it hurt to breathe)

I asked them

To paint me with poison

To dry out my skin

To dye my lips blood-red

And waited.

Be beautiful, they said

Even more beautiful

I stopped eating bread

I stopped eating meat

I stopped eating. I lived

On water and prayers,

And the hope someone might come

Through my tower window.

Be beautiful, they said

So a prince will save us.

I looked in the mirror and saw

Only ugliness. Only mottled skin

pulled over a fragile skull

Only hope gone. Dull hunger. Tired eyes.

Tired of waiting.

Be beautiful, they said.

I cut my hair.

I covered my face in ashes.

I escaped my tower

I stole into the market, and there

I ate until my belly was full

And so was my bag,

For I was still hungry. Until

I saw a beggar girl, her arm

as thick as my wrist. I knelt

To give her a crust of my bread, and lo

The trumpets sounded

And the prince came.