Words from Inside My Head

He wakes to find the ivory tower
he’d sealed himself into some time ago
now held him captive, his spouse the prison
guard, not the perfect princess she had been.

While staring out the window one dark night,
he sees a bird across the way singing
and calls it with a promise of his love,
in return for something he’s not sure of.

It should have flown away, instead flew close,
agreed to spin the gold he said he’d need
to make the long thick braid he’d use to crawl
down with, to free himself and run away;

instead he locked himself back in and shut
the window, pretending that he’d never
seen the bird, the bird had sung, or they’d been
friends, or that the bird had ever even been.

To the best of my recollection, I have never had an affair with a married man;
this is based on an affair my mother had and how it ended. Also a flirtation a married
man had with me recently (in our 70’s!!!) , and part of why I declined to be involved.

free verse. 10 syllables per line.