The Physician's Wife by Sarah Allison

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. 

Poem ART by: Amanda Bergloff