Any Prince To Any Princess Poem by Adrian Henri

Any Prince To Any Princess

Rating: 3.2


August is coming
and the goose, I'm afraid,
is getting fat.
There have been
no golden eggs for some months now.
Straw has fallen well below market price
despite my frantic spinning
and the sedge is,
as you rightly point out,
withered.

I can't imagine how the pea
got under your mattress. I apologize
humbly. The chambermaid has, of course,
been sacked. As has the frog footman.
I understand that, during my recent fact-finding tour of the
Golden River,
despite your nightly unavailing efforts,
he remained obstinately
froggish.


I hope that the Three Wishes granted by the General
Assembly
will go some way towards redressing
this unfortunate recent sequence of events.
The fall in output from the shoe-factory, for example:
no one could have foreseen the work-to-rule
by the National Union of Elves. Not to mention the fact
that the court has been fast asleep
for the last six and a half years.

The matter of the poisoned apple has been taken up
by the Board of Trade: I think I can assure you
the incident will not be
repeated.

I can quite understand, in the circumstances,
your reluctance to let down
your golden tresses. However
I feel I must point out
that the weather isn't getting any better
and I already have a nasty chill
from waiting at the base
of the White Tower. You must see
the absurdity of the
situation.
Some of the courtiers are beginning to talk,
not to mention the humble villagers.
It's been three weeks now, and not even
a word.

Princess,
a cold, black wind
howls through our empty palace.
Dead leaves litter the bedchamber;
the mirror on the wall hasn't said a thing
since you left. I can only ask,
bearing all this in mind,
that you think again,

let down your hair,

reconsider.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Terry Craddock 23 April 2015

Spinny humour fairy tale twists, into the modern collective reasoned appeals, in apparently a depressed market; a nice read and an interesting poem, that would be better served and introduced with a better title. A cleverly written piece which seems to beg a better arrangement, and a little more effort to raise it to a potential level, a good fairy tale twist deserves due to magical childhood memories.

2 0 Reply
Chinedu Dike 23 April 2015

Good piece of poetry, well articulated and nicely penned with conviction. Thanks for sharing.

1 0 Reply
Jeannette Heywood 23 April 2015

Satirical and yet still whimsical.

1 0 Reply
Denis Mair 03 June 2023

Just wonderful.

0 0 Reply
Kumarmani Mahakul 03 June 2023

Some of the courtiers are beginning to talk, not to mention the humble villagers. ..nice conceptualization. This poem is beautifully executed.

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Mahtab Bangalee 27 February 2020

superb and fantastic poem penned

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Frank Avon 23 April 2015

This poem is just delightful. Sent me back to the 'olden days, ' but also made me sit up and think. I usually try to be more specific in my comments on poems, but this one is just simply delightful. (By the way, I tried to give it a high rating and an enthusiastic 'like, ' but PH won't let me do that: page is unavailable, it keeps telling me.)

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Paul Brookes 23 April 2015

Great lovely tongue in chhek which other commentors have failed to see. However I enjoyed this romp through fairy land and the not so Grimm ending. Thanks for a great read. Still chuckling. BB

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Adrian Henri

Adrian Henri

Birkenhead, Cheshire
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