Once, a princess slept and dreamed of Death...
The princess slept.
She dreamed that Death stood by her feet
and called her away in a soft cold voice,
somewhere else, far from the fever,
into a quiet dark that smelled
of earth.
But she woke up.
Her father bid her wed a stranger, a physician,
who had cured her, so would keep her.
She smiled as she had been taught to do.
They were married with flags and trumpets
and the sky rained rice and flowers.
The physician slept.
He did not wake, only sank deeper
with a face full of dread, and she wondered
if he dreamed of Death. They buried him
with flags and trumpets and much weeping,
and she wore widow’s black
though they had been married less than a day.
Her father did not seem to mind.
Over dinner, he remarked
he had a better husband for her.
A wealthy king from a nearby land
who would make a strong ally in war.
Sarah Allison lives in Florida. Her short fiction has been published in Liguorian Magazine and NonBinary Review, and her fairytale blog can be found at writinginmargins.weebly.com
