The Tired Princess

Princess Dawn is not

A morning princess

She sleeps until

Her mother, the Queen

Bangs on her chamber door

Forcing her to arise

And get to

The duties of the day

Princess Dawn finds all this

To be very tiring

And it is not uncommon for her

To feel sluggish and lethargic

(Both words that mean

‘So tired you’re moving

Like a slug or a letheriffic slug’)

She goes through the kingdom

Trying to smile

At all who pass her by

But she finds

That it isn’t until very late

In the day

When she finds herself

Truly waking up

And able to perform

At her best

The Queen tries

Everything she can think of

To solve the problem

Of the tired princess

Earlier bedtimes

No activities an hour

Before turning out the lights

No eating after 7pm

No drinking after 6pm

No sounds anywhere in the castle

But no matter what she does

Her daughter takes longer and longer

To fall asleep each night

And it never gets any easier

Waking her up in the morning

In fact, Princess Dawn

Has gone through

At least forty-six

Ladies-in-Waiting

Who have all quit

When they realized

How difficult it would be

To get her going

Every morning

Once the Queen

Has run out of ideas

She summons

The Remedy Witch

From the deepest parts

Of the forest

Bordering the castle

The Remedy Witch arrives

Sits with Princess Dawn

For an hour or so

And then reports back

To the Queen

That there is absolutely

Nothing wrong with the girl

‘What are you talking about,’ wails the Queen,

‘Have you not heard about all the trouble

We’re having with getting her up in the morning?’

The Remedy Witch listens patiently

And respectively

As the Queen frets and furies

And when she is done

The wise woman from the forest

Explains that Princess Dawn

Has a different sleeping pattern

Than those around her

‘She’s more awake later in the day

And less so in the morning,” says the Witch,

“Everyone has a different internal clock

And some people are more alert

In the late afternoon

Or in the evening’

‘So you see,’ said the Witch,

‘The trouble is not with her

But with all of you

For wanting her

To be on your schedule’

With that, the Remedy Witch

Exited the castle

And the Queen was forced

To consider what she could do

About her daughter

She decided that she would

Rearrange her daughter’s daily activities

So that they happened later in the day

Or in the evening

And once the new routine began

She found it very useful

To have someone from court

Available to the dwellers of the kingdom

If dilemmas arose

At a later hour

Now, of course,

If the Queen lived where you live

And not in a kingdom of her own making

She’d have a hard time

Moving things like schooltime around

Just to suit her daughter

But perhaps that’s why

I’m telling you this story

So that one day

When you grow up

You’ll think how people

Sometimes behave differently

Based on things

They have no control over

And you’ll do your best

To accommodate them

(‘Accommodate’ means

‘Make room for someone’)

And certainly

You’re all good children

So you would always want

To make

A little extra

Room