"Fairytale Series: Beauty and the Beast" by Emma Kathryn

Beauty and the Beast

Emma Kathryn

On that dark, cold, stormy night,

She raced up on her horse in the rain,

She leapt from its back as the wind whipped her cloak

And she screamed and she shook at the great iron gate.

She had come for her father who had lost his way

In the wind and the torrents of darkness,

But what she found, the sight she faced,

Her father’s cruel captor; the horror of the beast.

She stood her ground, stayed still and strong,

Our beauty did not cry and flee,

But she made a pact with the monstrous beast;

Spare her father’s life and she was his for eternity.

The beast agreed to this promise,

The deal it had been made;

The sweet beauty was his

And her father had been saved.

He gave her what he called “freedom,”

But only on his castle grounds,

He considered his demands to be reasonable

Yet wondered why she frowned.

She did not enjoy his company, his manners or his character,

In her dark eyes he was foul-tempered and rude,

So she kept to herself, the only things she cared for

Was his wild red roses and his great many books.

He tried and tried to befriend dear beauty,

But rejection he did face

And forever it would remain this way

If she remained frozen and he a disgrace.

Though eternity is a very long time

And a compromise they came to;

She would be more warm and open

And he would behave the best he could.

The two became closer and quite attached,

Isn’t it strange how feelings can grow?!

But she continued to deny and question

The feelings she could not show.

As time went by, the beast came to terms

With a horrible fact that haunted his dreams;

If he truly loved the beauty he held in a cage,

He must let her spread her wings and leave.

But what he did not tell her

Was that as he continued to live a loveless life

And let the lonely years crawl on,

Without her all that was left for him: a sudden, untimely death.

It came to her choice; stay or go

And, without knowing this dark truth,

She chose to stay

And chose to love the beast

Her three little words

Lifted a weight so heavy

And erased curses from both hearts

Of the beast and his beauty.