Fairy Tale Copyright © Rob Lock 2011

You are naïve, believing in magic -
you don’t give a bean for prudence
but you earn a kiss, while still a belly-flopper

then climb the rope of hair,
cross the desert,
hack through the briars of neglect,
and plant a kiss
that makes all turn out well.

But you know this happens
only once upon a time.

So you move backstage
to see off intruders,
having no truck with trolls.

You build a house of brick,
and save your brothers; the granny; the girl.

You kill the wolf

then find that you
have become beast,
in need of a kiss
that cannot be earned,

so you face yourself
and tend the garden

in hope.