None of Your Business

The blinds are drawn.

The lights are out.

Billie Holiday on the radio.

There is nothing to see.

It’s none of your business, anyway.

Her Reflection

She saw her own reflection in his sunglasses.

She liked what she saw and wondered if he could see it too.

When he took them off,

she could no longer see herself in his eyes.

Where a stone hit many years ago,

a tiny hole, a beginning of a sun.

Only three rays.

The largest part of the window is unmarred.

Except for that scar on the belly.

There is a window at the top of that tower.

You would have to be a bird to look inside.

They say a princess lives there.

She spends her days spinning.

She uses her own hair as the yarn.

One day her prince will come, they say.

He will be a true hero and his heart will be pure.

She will let her hair down for this man

and he will use it as a ladder to climb up.

It is not clear what will happen next, but somehow

the hero will find a way to rescue the princess.

He will kill a dragon or two in the process.

For, what’s a story like this without dragons?

Many have believed this and tried their luck.

Most of them are dead now.

She is still up there, spinning her yarn.

If I didn’t know any better,

I would say she never intended to leave

or had any plans of letting herself be rescued.