Blood and Snow

There is a legend our grandparents told
About a princess whose heart had grown cold
Her beauty, they say, was a joy to behold
With blood-red lips in a coffin of gold


They say an apple became her demise
And closed, forever, those dark, brooding eyes
Their story became a well-spun disguise
Until two brothers uncovered their lies


The princess was real, with skin white as snow
But there were some facts we weren’t to know
So the brothers set off, hoping to show
How the elders forged her story of woe


Armed with lost knowledge, they followed her trail
They searched high and low, but to no avail
Until one evening, they heard an old tale
That pointed them toward a forgotten vale


Feeling great triumph, the brothers took note
Of the old tower, hidden and remote
Finding a rowboat that was still afloat
They used it to cross the perilous moat

Once in the tower, they climbed to the peak
But there was no princess, cursed and unique
Next was the dungeon, so dreary and bleak
And that’s where they found their princess mystique


“Christ, she’s a beauty” one brother now said
The other just stared while shaking his head
For there lay the princess, shrouded and dead
A coffin of gold her eternal bed


With a sense of dread, they removed the top
Of fragile glass, it was easy to swap
One of the brothers believed they should stop
But the other one could not let it drop


They struggled a moment which broke the glass
And one brother called the other an ass
While they were bickering -throwing the sass
A small drop of blood disrupted the lass


The princess, it seems, was merely asleep
And when she awoke, the brothers did weep
Her eyes were glowing, unnaturally deep
And her smile was both charming and steep


“Well now, isn’t this a refreshing treat!”
The princess purred as they fell at her feet
The elder brother went white as a sheet
As their dreadful princess rose from her seat


“I’ve been asleep for an eternity
Since that witch came and blighted my spree
Back when my kingdom was wild and free
But my long future I failed to foresee”


The elder brother let out a loud squeal
As the dreadful princess grabbed him with zeal
Her eyes were black-her teeth sharp as steel
“It’s been ages since I last had a meal.”

She opened his throat and soon drank her fill
While the younger one watched, frozen and still
She drained the body with decades of skill
Then threw the vessel away with a thrill


So, the brothers’ journey ended in slight
For one brother died at the hands of Snow White
The other one stayed and served out of fright
And he knew, in the end, that the elders were right.