The Princess with No Kingdom

She climbs the spiral staircase, each step

an echo bouncing off lifeless walls.

Up in the cold watchtower, she gazes

out a small window. Her eyes settle on

the fields below—playgrounds

with their swings and slides and spinners.

Pretty, pink-cheeked princesses are

laughing, running, building

sandcastles—kingdoms—with their fathers.

Fathers, they who step into knighthood,

guarding little crowns until they ascend

to mighty queens. She ponders why her own

never wanted to pledge

his allegiance to her fading

crown, why he never cared enough

to push her on a swing,

letting the winds sing, run, dance alongside

her braids. She wonders if once, she too

could have shone beneath her fallen kingdom’s

sun.