The Twilight Kingdom Poem by Tsunami HiroshiSu

The king had twelve beautiful daughters
Locked in their room every night
Every morning their dancing slippers were found
Worn and tattered
No one could discover the riddle of the slippers
But over time the sisters
Became cold and pale
The king begged for their secret
They still withheld
He called for answers
Said if any could discover the secret
They could pick their bride
Peter
A poor gardener heard tell of this
So he came to the kingdom
And got a job as the palace gardener
Every morning he made bouquets for the princesses
The youngest
Elise
Caught his eye
She was the fairest of all the sisters
Princes came from everywhere
To try to discover the secret
Of the twelve dancing princesses
And so win one's hand in marriage
But each night the prince set on uncovering the answer
Disappeared
Without a trace
Peter found a flower growing in his garden
Instead of pulling it for the weed it was
He nurtured it and it flourished
A beautiful golden bud
Opened its beautiful golden petals
And Peter picked it and put it through his button hole
It turned him invisible
That night he crept into the room
Of the twelve princesses
And followed them as they descended
A secret staircase
Into a twilight kingdom
They walked through a forest full of silver trees
Then passed into meadow of golden flowers
Then into another forest
This one had trees encrusted in jewels
Then they came to a lake with a beautiful castle in the center
Each princess rode in a boat across the lake
A prince rowing each one
Peter rode in Elise's boat
Which lagged behind the rest
Music grew ever louder
As they made their way toward the castle
When they reached the dock
They disembarked and entered an enormous
Beautiful dance hall
And the princesses each danced with a different prince
The very princes that had tried to discover their secret
They danced all night and when their shoes had holes in them
They stopped and had a marvelous banquet
But then it was time to return home
And the sisters sailed once more across the lake
And walked again through the jewels
Gold and silver
Peter at once had an idea and picked a jeweled leaf
A golden flower
And a silver twig on the way back
And for the next three days
He hid one in Elise's bouquet
Elise and her sisters deduced what had happened
And knew he knew their secret
So they invited him to come with them that night to dance
They gave him a lovely suit of clothes and he walked with them
Again through the riches
Of the twilight kingdom
He danced with each of the princesses in turn
And they all agreed that he was the most wonderful dance partner any of them had ever had
Then they feasted
But Peter claimed no hunger
For he knew that the food would bind him to the kingdom
And make it so he could never leave
Like the rest of the princes there
Then they poured him wine
And proposed a toast
And he knew he loved Elise
And thought if she wanted him to stay in the kingdom
Cold hearted
And subdued
It was his job to do just that
So he raised the goblet to his lips
Knowing he would never leave the twilight kingdom
And he looked right at her
And she knocked the vessel from his hands
This one act of love
Broke the spell
The princesses were once again themselves
Warmhearted and rosy cheeked
And the princes were allowed to return with them
And so they left the twilight kingdom
And they heard it falling
Into dust
But no one said they'd miss it
Peter told the king his problems were solved
And Peter and Elise were married
And there was of course a wonderful ball
Once more the princesses danced all night
And their shoes were worn to tatters again
But this time
This did not concern the king
In the slightest


**Inspired by The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm