"The Glass Princess" by Lyndsay E. Gilbert aka Liadan

There once was a princess made out of glass

Who just sat by her window watching time pass

No one could touch her for fear she might break

She lived in a nightmare that never could wake

Just sang to the doves as she envied their flight

From the stone of her tower to the clouds angel white

I am a princess, is love not my right?

I am a princess, and yet I must fight

Just to take a small step and not shatter to pieces

To whirl in my gown and to smooth all its creases

I am a princess, though never been kissed

If I disappear I will never be missed

Lonely days in her tower she stared in the mirror

Wondering in pain why the people all feared her

Her skin looked like flesh, with blood and with bone

A blush on her cheeks against the pale tone

But to touch she was smooth, she was brittle and cold

Was she alive, would she ever grow old?

Am I just magick?  A ghost in a shell?

Was I entrapped here to live in this hell?

Do I have a heart inside this glass cage?

Can I hear it beating in sadness and rage?

I feel it inside me, like the beating of wings

I feel its power, like the strength of ten kings

One day by the window she gazed at the birds

And it was this day she witnessed something absurd

A white dove came flying towards where she waited

It came right through the window to the world that she hated

So she soothed it and told it with wings such as those

It could never live here in a space so enclosed

I am so still, and you move so quickly

So if you stay here you will end up quite sickly

I cannot grasp you and help you fly free

I am made out of glass and will shatter, you see

You must come to the window, go back to the sky

For my days are nothing if I can’t watch you fly

The bird seemed to listen and stretched out its wings

And the wind outside whispered of marvellous things

As the dove kissed the air with its feathers of white

For an instant the sun flared, blinding all sight

Then when it faded, where once was the dove

Stood a young man of twenty, simply in love

I have no plaits for prince charming to climb

I haven’t been sleeping for time upon time

There have been no thorns for you to cut through

And no witch to bind me and keep me from you

But what hope for a dove boy and a princess of glass

Until the first kiss is the longest we’d last

The dove boy smiled sadly, and tears filled his eyes

Expressive as poetry, blue as the skies

He spoke in a whisper, “I cannot stay long

I wanted to see if my heart could be wrong

You cannot live here, bound by your fear

For when you are listening what do you hear?”

My own fear is real; I’m a princess of glass

My fate is deadly- my life cannot last

But I’ll answer your question you came far to ask

I dream I am human, this glass but a mask

I believe when I’m silent, I hear my heart beating

It reminds me of dove wings, parting and meeting

The boy watched with wonder and reached out his hand

She shivered in terror, made an effort to stand

She still feared to hold him, but worse, he might leave

The sun was now setting, and birds rest at eve

If he should go, he might not return

And leave her in hell to dream and to yearn

My dove heart is burning he looks into my eyes

If I cannot have him I’m willing to die

I gladly will shatter to taste my first kiss

I will regret nothing- have nothing to miss

He guides me gently- his lips meet my own

I’m touched for an instant by heaven alone

The pain seized her merciless, tore her apart

The shards cut his fingers, her scream gripped his heart

But as the glass hit the floor, crystals of death

Her heart was still beating, now all that was left

And as he had know in his heart it would be

She was a dove, and now she was free

The glass cage is gone, and yet I live on

My heart is alive, for now I belong

I am a dove girl, no longer of glass

And I have known love and kisses that last

Out of my prison, together we fly

To cast off all fear, and shatter a lie