Cinderella

I did what any girl would have done

I devised a plan to escape that house

It wasn't difficult –

Dropped things at the Monday market

Drew circles under my eyes

Wept in torn shoes

Until she noticed me;

The woman with stars under her hood

And went home

I fed the cat, the dog. A horse, ten chickens and a dozen mice

Made breakfast for three

Changed three beds

Hoovered three floors

And cleaned three sets of clothes

I endured the 'music' flowing from upstairs

And hummed to myself as I washed the hall floor

What I was waiting for was a miracle

It knocked at around four o'clock

One white envelope, wax sealed, regal

I did laundry, I made dinner, I decorated hair and found jewellery

And still the Lady didn't come

The mice were sweet though – made me a dress

I wore it to please them, and it was torn on cue

And I cried (I'd had years to perfect my acting)

And only when the house was clear did the Lady appear

A pumpkin, she said – I'd been growing it since Christmas

And why do you think I had been so kind to the mice?

Eventually it stood, glistening in the moonlight

And then she made my dress

Light as a feather, cold in this weather

And impractical glass slippers – but man! I looked good

'Til midnight, she said

Did she think it would take me that long?

So I was fashionably late

Enough for 'His Highness' to be bored

And when he looked up he saw me

And I waltzed in his arms

Until he knew that he loved me

Until I was sure he would rescue me

Then, annoyingly, the clock struck twelve before I could slip him my number

So as I ran I left one of those fragile, hopeless slippers on the stairs

What a calling card

And ran before I could be trapped in a pumpkin

Life moved on

Now my step-mother wasn't stupid

And my silly mouth had hummed that song

So I was locked up when he came round –

Thank god for those silly mice!

But the witch – she broke that slipper

That delicate, pathetic slipper;

Scattered shards all over my nice clean floor

And I smiled;

She would enjoy cleaning that up,

And pulled the other from my pocket:

My glass key to freedom

It was a happy marriage, while it lasted

But when I married again, I married better

I dealt with the meddling Godmother

Before I introduced my girls, my beautiful girls,

To my husband and his daughter

And watched

As his life ebbed away