Cinderella
an exercise
I will arise and go. Now tolls the midnight bell,
and watchers on the wall cry out that all is well,
and though the road be long and bitter be the cold,
I will arise and go lest I should break the spell.
I will arise and go. The night is growing old,
the table is uncleared at home, the hearth is cold,
the beds must be turned down, the kettle set to boil:
I will arise and go and do as I am told.
I will arise and go, take up once more the toil
that shall wear me until I shed this mortal coil;
yet I shall wear it easily after tonight!
I will arise and go now lest the midnight spoil.
I will arise and go and fancy put to flight,
but treasure in my heart these hours of delight,
and when my hands are aching and my heart is sore,
I will arise and go back to this magic night.
I will arise and go. The glass upon the floor
clicks like the second-hand that ticks away the hour.
The jewels fade, the silken gown unravels too—
I will arise and go. I can delay no more.
I will arise and go. My dearest prince, adieu!
Hold me not back! In dreams alone can I hold you,
for I—alas!—have secrets I can never tell.
I will arise and go now. Never mind the shoe.
This poem was composed in 2017 for a prompt to use the first five words of W. B. Yeats’s poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree as the first line of the poem. Being an over-achiever, I used the opening five words to open both the first and last lines of each of my stanzas, which—to illustrate the subject matter—feature lines of 12 syllables, totalling 24 lines in all to represent mathematically a clock. Though it was useful as an exercise, I’m not sure what I think about it as a poem. Perhaps you’ll give me your opinion in the comments? Or perhaps you’re so impressed that you decide to support me with a £4/month subscription!
Never mind the shoe!🤣🤣🤣 I love fairytale retellings.
Overall very well done. The music is lovely with the anaphora bookending every stanza, and the excellent chain rhyme of the Rubaiyat stanzas (like Frost's "Stopping by Woods...")
There is a very strong association with Yeats, obviously with the repeated phrase from "Lake Isle" (and even the way you extend the phrase by adding "now" in the final line), but also the use of hexameter echoes "Lake Isle," and the phrase "my heart is sore," which is in "The Wild Swans at Coole." The only question would be why there are such pervasive allusions to Yeats in this particular poem -- is there some kind of specific connection to the subject or theme?