The Dreams of Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty takes a rose

And slices off the thorns

She looks at them

In the palm of her hand

Sharp, pointy

And dangerous

The princess knows

She’s asleep

Because the writing

On the wall

Of her castle

Looks like upside down

Trees and vines

And she knows

She must be

Trapped

Inside a dream

But as long as you’re dreaming

You may as well

Dictate the dream

Which means

Moving yourself

Down the roads

Your imagination provides

The first road

Took her to a tower

Where at the top

Was a prince

With a beard

That flowed all the way down

To the green, green ground

The sleeping princess stood on

The sleeping princess

Climbed the beard

Up to the tower

And offered to rescue

The trapped prince

Only to find

That he was quite comfortable

In his tower

And that what looked like a prison

To the girl standing below it

Had become a home

To the young man trapped there

The princess begged the prince

To come down with her

To see the world of her dreams

But he was asleep as well

And he said that if he left with her

And traveled the roads

Of her greatest creativities

When he woke up

He might be even sadder

Than he had first been

When he understood

Where he was

And where he wasn’t going

The princess climbed down alone

And traveled another road

To a great thicket

Full of bristles

And briar

And burl

Beyond the thicket

Was a castle

And the highest point of the castle

Was a tower

Just like the one the princess

Is still sleeping in

And the prince with the beard

Is still afraid to leave

What should she do?

There might be someone

In that tower

Who needs help

And there might be someone

Who doesn’t want help

And there might be something scary

Like a dragon

A small dragon

That can fit in a tower

A dream dragon

Who eats dreamers

And would eat a dreaming princess

Without a second thought

The princess was scared

And then she remembered

That she needn’t be scared

Because she was dreaming

And dreams are the courage

We hide in our hearts

So we can use them

When we need to feel fearless

In order to pursue

Our greatest hopes

And so she pulled out the thorns

She had kept in the pocket

Of her sleeping gown

And she began fashioning them

Into a sword

And once the sword from thorns was formed

She thrashed her way through the thicket

To the base of the tower

And scaled the stairs

That wrapped around the cold, grey stones

And when she reached the top

She found a door

Covered in thorns

Even thornier

Than the ones she used

To make her sword

But she swashed and she buckled

And the thorns fell away from the door

And as she pushed it open

The eyes of the sleeping princess

Also opened wide

And the dream became air

And the air was sweet

And smelled

Of roses