The Guild Fanucci

Cinderella | Part I | Part II | Part III |

Cinderella, Part II
© 2005 George Reed

I am but a hearth brush and no one speaks to me…
If they did I’d tell, perchance, of wonders that I see…
I’d tell mayhap of Faerie hands that helped me learn to be…
A thing born more of heart than hearth and frank utility…

I’d whisper words of what I heard when daily chores are done…
And how for but a span of hours freedom had begun…
To show a maiden that she was more than a serving girl…
And that there was a special place for her out in the world…

I’d linger on the magic of the music that she made…
Singing soft of better days with mother in the shade…
I’d tell of how her father passed and left them both alone…
And how at length another came to lord over the home…

I’d hint on how her mother failed in love and then in life…
And how stepsisters told the girl she’d never be a wife…
They told her she would only be a simple serving maid…
And never frolic with her own children in the shade…

Stepfathers are not often said to be a horrid thing…
Though I saw this one cruelly forbid the girl to sing…
He feared that she might somehow be heard by better kind…
And they would take her swift away a warmer life to find…

Each morning ere the house awakes my gentle friend comes down…
And takes me into loving hands and sweeps the cinders round…
She cleans and sings so none may hear her music in the air…
Her music still did Faerie reach who came to see her there…

I watched the girl take up in fright when Faerie touched her hand…
She gave a cry and whirled to see a smiling woman stand…
A pace away, clear as day, though lit with inner light…
The Faerie bowed her head and made regrets for giving fright…

I felt the magic flowing from the Faerie’s loving heart…
And knew that soon, ‘neath summers moon, a better time would start…
The Faerie smiled and said to her, “Soon will come the call…”
“And Kingly summons from this house unto a royal ball…”

“To this royal fete you’ll go and spin your inner light…”
“No prince there is that can ignore a choice he knows is right…”
My youngling said in quiet voice, she’d not get out the door…
She sighed and let a single tear splash slowly to the floor…

I saw the Faerie shake her head and sternly set her eyes…
“Any who might bar your way will shortly realize…
“Treading on the foot of fate can lead to broken toes…
“And battle with a Faerie can bring unpleasant woes…”

A glimmering of hope begin within those maiden eyes…
I knew that she might just believe she might earn fairer skies…
But then, again, her eyes cast down…”No welcome will be there…
“For she who goes to Royal ball without a gown to wear…”

The Faerie shocked my bristles stiff with a gentle laugh…
“Young one I am a Faerie, eh? The best gown you will have…
“Tomorrow night after all the others in this house…
“Depart for distant royal halls, come down here in your blouse…

“Come down here in your old chemise and sweep the floor well clean…
“When dust is truly swept away, your gown will brilliant gleam…
“Out in the yard a carriage will be waiting your approach…
“Not one who sees the royal hall will have so fine a coach…

“One warning I will give to you…do not remain too late…
“For moments after midnight comes you must pass the gates…
“Departing Royal castle and returning to this home…
“Lest magic leave you lingering and walking back alone…”

I saw the maiden cry with joy and hug the Faerie close…
As the Faerie smiled back the color in her rose…
The Faerie faded swift away and maiden stood with me…
Though brushes are well far from hearts dancing lavishly…

I waited patient by the door until the turn of day…
And watched with awe in silence when the maiden came my way…
She took me up and lovingly swept from door to door…
But rounding on the mirror she dropped me to the floor…

Her old chemise was gone from sight a gown was in its place…
Gems and gold upon white silk, a smile on her face…
True beauty I have seen within this loving maiden rare…
Now her radiance was something well beyond compare…

I waited in that quiet hall and heard the coach depart…
Knowing well the prince must soon be smitten in the heart…
For he would see the outer shell and draw him very close…
And then behold the inner gem kept hidden well from most…

Hours came and hours fled with me down on the floor…
Morning was not far away…I heard him as he swore…
The sisters two protested loud as they moaned and wailed…
The minister was most displeased for somehow he had failed…

To win the royal eye at length for daughters he thought rare…
The Prince might well have come to them, had Someone not been there…
No name had he nor true degree nor hint of public station…
The woman was a mystery to nobles of the nation…

I heard her creeping quietly in through shadowed door…
Some hours after Minister had ceased his tired roar…
She had a smile in her walk and laughter in her eyes…
And I am sure I brief beheld love just realized…

‘Twas afternoon when missives came with heralds to the gate…
The prince was searching high and low to learn his lady’s fate…
I could tell him where she went and where she now may be…
But I am but a hearth brush and no one speaks to me…