Before slippers of glass or impenetrable thorns,
Before sky-glancing towers or candlelit suppers for one,
Before poisoned apples or wolves in the wood,
Before, before, before …

We were only your daughters,
Children sleeping beneath silken coverlets, inhabiting
Dew-drenched dreams free of shadow-cast futures. 
No spindles taunted us,
No huntsman’s knife touched our throats.  
We rose to breakfast without regard of isolation 
In stone fortresses or abandonment
In lonely castles.
Secure in perfect wisdom and the certainty of
Love; rejection was as inconceivable as a snowflake
In summer, or 
Entombment in a coffin of glass. 

Before sharp teeth or ashes,
Before dying beasts or unsought kisses
Before towered captivity or damning mirrors,
Before, before, before…

Our cares were for blue velvet dresses and
Dancing shoes or
Red cloaks and roses. 
We sang nursery rhymes, said our prayers
At eventide.
We were mischievous and dutiful, 
Adoring and disobedient.
We came to you with our thoughts
And fears. We did not know what we know now.
Before, before, before …

Mothers and fathers sang lullabies and
Slew dragons, 
Kissed fevered brows and lived forever. 
Before, sleep was not a curse, nor
Maidenhood a prize. 
Before, before, before …

[Deborah W. Sage is a native of Kentucky, USA. She has most recently been published in Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine, Eternal Haunted Summer, Literary LEO, Fairy Tale Magazine, From the Farther Trees and the 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology. She has a forthcoming poetry publication in the Amethyst Press Anthology for Julian of Norwich. A former business executive, who after years of being committed to the bottom line, is gaining equilibrium in her psyche through poetry.]