you promised golden light

a lake, with misty mountains

gingerbread houses and hidden

treasure

you lit the sun.

a wrong turn, somewhere behind the

jealous desperation

i’m lost, this isn’t the way

deep trails and skeletal trees

deceiving with innocent smiles

and the pages turned to dust

in my trembling hand

[still searching for the

ever after]

ahead, a safe fortress,

you said,

to keep me safe

--what i believed--

night steals in

creeping, filling the cracks

[this breaking binding]

but the garden’s overgrown

appleless trees bow in the

sobbing wind

leaves wither, blow away…

the sky is collapsing

and

i’m locked in a crumbling ivory tower

my broken fairy tale