Make Believe

that every day you’ve waited for your prince
is worth the dragon, worth the frog’s wet kiss.
Make believe the wide world’s still intact
and princes still ride out in search of their Miss
Charmings. If you can believe
that in a castle you will never leave
your destiny awaits, then you have faith
like fallout. If you think
the bridge across your moat will never sink
beneath a heat like suns, you are a fool.
If you can believe in answered prayers, you
who never yet stepped down the winding stairs
that lead to your front door, turn toward the bare
and silent plain outside your turret fair;
at the window in your cell, wait on.
Now, let down your glowing hair.


—Zella Christensen