Rosebud

I. BIRTH

Dawning was pretty

A rose without thorns

You burnt her city

Monster with black horns

She wouldn’t know love

until she was blue

A young broken dove

depended on you

Does it surprise you

She became a storm

Oh, does it scare you

the way she’d transform

You taught her to hate

Seclusion your knife

A dark twisted fate

War-torn with strife

Locked in a cage

A child alone

Singer with no stage

A dog with no bone

But now she’s a Queen

A warrior, proud

It’s time to be seen

It’s time to be loud

You poisoned her tea

each night before bed

Her heart once held glee

You wanted it dead

Reached for your hand

You tore yours away

The howling night band

never freed your wake

She now wears a crown

dipped in bright gold

She didn’t break down

Broke free of your hold

Oh, rosebud child

Her mouth sewn closed

Kept tame, never wild

Song never composed

A tall barred window

The ball down below

Hidden in shadows

Hateful with woe

Now a brush of flames

Cradle of fire

No longer tamed

You’re blind to dire

She was once a doe

Gentle and kind

But you were a foe

with your tortured mind

The ways of a snake

Learnt from a crow

Ten years of heartache

Started to show

A decade later

Monster in the flesh

Huntress, king hater

An angel of death

II. MACHINE

It’s not all so bad

This you would say

You read her stories

Your biggest mistake

For you didn’t see

You taught her to listen

Everything she’d be

you’d never christen

Now she speaks freely

Untainted by sin

Strong and carefree

Nightmare didn’t win

You, the black raven

King under the sun

This was no haven

No, this was no fun

Tore muscle from bone

Made sweet carrion

Filled her heart with stone

Blared the clarion

But she’d rise above

Her own warrior

No longer a dove

Now a strong soldier

Friendship, a rare gift

Your blood, a dark curse

Created a rift

Love born in a hearse

Never taught to hunt

Raised to be prey

Her blade may be blunt

but you were child’s play

Now she’s a fighter

Red hair in the wind

Flames grew brighter

An army of sin

III. DESTRUCTION

You made your mistake

Oh king, how you fell

You thought she would break

under your cruel spell

Twelve years have passed

No longer your bird

She grew to surpass

Learnt to be heard

She, the precocious

Labyrinth of fools

Young and ferocious

Words became tools

Shot them like arrows

Tension on the string

The archer, her bow

A storm she would bring

You took her selfhood

Once taught her to hate

She lost all her good

and rose to be great

It was ambition

that drove you to sin

Learnt from omission

Blood doesn’t make kin

She speaks and spoke loud

A strong lioness

Rose now a storm cloud

Bow to your highness

Fear is a poison

That you once preached

To quiet the noises

To disown her speech

A father, your own

In flesh and raw blood

You chose to disown

Your once sweet rosebud

Now she’s a woman

A woman I say!

Held back for no man

Goodbye, the dark days