the King and Queen,
believing they were acting
in the boy’s best interest,
turned down
girl after girl.
“She’s not a Real Princess”
obviously.
Only a commoner could sleep
in conditions like that–
to a Real Princess,
the intensity of feeling!
the piercing perception!
the pea,
masked by mattresses
one-hundred-fold,
was perfect pain.

nevertheless,
the King and Queen
found One,
a Real Princess.
they were married
but never touched
because the Beautiful, Porcelain Princess
was so fragile,
still black and blue
from the night of one knot
underneath a thousand
eiderdowns,
that one touch
could shatter her like glass.