LINDA SCHELLER | THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

To preserve us for his purposes, our father the king

locked us in our room at night, yet every dawn

our slippers lay in tatters. What witchcraft is this?

He challenged men to answer, offering one of us

as trophy and the axe as failure’s price.

With little to lose, an old soldier bet his neck.

He pretended to drink the wine I’d drugged

and snored in a corner, feigning sleep

as my sisters and I donned silk and new slippers.

Through slits he watched me open a magic door

and lead my sisters down the secret staircase.

Privileged by invisibility’s cloak,

he followed us through winding caverns

and jeweled forests. My youngest sister

felt his boot on her hem and cried out in warning,

but I paid no heed. He boarded her boat unseen,

and she rowed his weight across the dark lake,

complaining. He shadowed us to the castle

and saw my lover kiss my hair as we danced.

As always, my sisters and I left before dawn

and rowed across the bottomless lake.

We returned through the door to our chamber

and shed the slippers we’d danced to shreds.

 Linda Scheller is the author of two poetry books, Fierce Light (FutureCycle Press) and Wind & Children (Main Street Rag Publishing Company). Recent honors include Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations, and her manuscript, Laurels, was shortlisted for the Aryamati Poetry Prize. Scheller is Vice President of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and volunteers as a programmer for KCBP Community Radio. Learn more at lindascheller.com.