Friday's Whims of the Time Traveler 24.0: July 19th, 2007

Prince and Princess
by Belinda Roddie

Two gentle silhouettes move to the sound of harmony
The clarinet is mellow as the wind through hollow trees
as it caresses each cheekbone in its travel, causing a smile
to simmer like a cool flame on the boy's moist lips
He wants from his princess a small but tender kiss
gentle as the Egyptian breeze upon the Nile
while the sun hangs like a broken chandelier
as the leaves cling to the instrument's melody

The girl asks, "I wonder what it's like here in spring,
when the sun is hooked back onto the blue ceiling
above our heads, and it is no longer quite free?"
The boy thinks, "She's a little poetic for me."
He wants to keep her quiet with his embrace,
but it only seems to stir her further to sing
of lovely things such as falcons on the wing
in order to signify the musician's mockery

The boy grows impatient and says, "Didn't we agree
that this is a fairy tale, and I was your prince?
It seems my crown has turned to straw
because not even over the horsefly have I any command."
And the girl thinks, "And he says how poetic I am."
She moves to satisfy his wishes, but in silent awe
she finds him in a passion stronger than any king's
as he talks of his reign more frantically

And then, silence. Silence except a drop of rain
cascading on a bare limb, as the clarinet has ceased;
the royal couple's bard has put his lute away.
And everything seems much more solemn as the day
grows dimmer on the brows of the daughter and son
of this forest illuminated like the wood of Camelot
and their foreheads are still white and unstained
as their words fade, and they drift from memory

The work you see here has not been edited nor altered since July 19th, 2007.