The Fifth Princess

Poem

The Emperor, incapable of owning imperfection,
Regarded the fifth princess as a temporary humiliation sent by the Devil.
Untroubled by her plain face and little twisted foot,
She passed her days in the garden near the stables;
She had a merry heart and a river imp’s delight
In the absurdity of things in general.
One day the second gardener put his heart
Into his laughing, handsome eyes for her to take.
Accepting it, she was immediately banished
And went joyously with her husband to the south end of nowhere.
The Emperor industriously blotted her out of the records.
Grumbling the while at the chill dreary wind from the garden.

Notes

 

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