Smile.
Sit still.
Dance.
Don’t cry.
Be pretty.
Be quiet.
Good girls
don’t survive by asking why.
Wait for a man
to take you to the ball.
Wait in the tower
behind the wall.
Wait for a prince
to wake you with a kiss.
Wait for a boy
to remember you exist.
Wait.
The word
they feed you
like sugar.
Wait.
Years rot quietly
in the corners.
Wait.
Your voice shrinks.
Your bones grow thin.
Your world becomes
four grey walls
and the echo
of footsteps
that never climb the stairs.
No horse.
No sword.
No prince.
Just dust
on the window
and the slow understanding
that the story
was never written
for you to live through.
Enough waiting.
Kick the door
until your feet split open.
Claw the stones.
Break your nails.
Break your teeth.
Better to crawl
bleeding
through the dark
than to die
polite
and quiet
in a tower
waiting
for a boy
who never meant
to save you
at all.