Today, Snow White’s mother. Chronologically, this should have come before yesterday’s poem.
Black hair, red lips and skin as white as snow
I know that I will not be here for her
And that the king, her father, prizes beauty.
And so I wish them for my unborn child:
Those striking looks. A little china doll
Who’ll charm her way through life without a mother.
They always said I’d never be a mother:
That I would fade away, like melting snow
They said I was as pretty as a doll,
“No girl alive’s as beautiful as her”
They said, “but far too frail to bear a child.”
Until the crown prince heard about my beauty.
The whole world knew he wed me for my beauty.
It seemed my only chance to be a mother,
However briefly. How I love the child
That grows inside me! But before the snow.
Has melted, I will perish, leaving her
To make her fortune, little china doll.
I hope that she’ll be stronger than a doll
Stronger than me, at least. For, though her beauty
Will help, I know that it will hinder her
Especially without a loving mother
To wipe the tears from cheeks as white as snow.
To tell her she’s a much beloved child.
I hope the king remarries, has a child:
A playmate for my precious little doll.
Together, they can frolic in the snow.
I hope nobody will resent her beauty
And that the new queen will be like a mother
And, as her very own, will cherish her.
I weep each time I think of leaving her.
The king will not care much about his child.
He doesn’t want a daughter, but a mother
Knows. I know I’ll bear a little doll
With nothing to survive on but her beauty.
The tears run down my cheeks like melting snow.
What kind of mother can I be for her
Thus vanishing like snow, to leave my child?
I hope my little doll can use her beauty.
Tom Juniper Poetry 