Bound by Faeries

Bound by a hedge of spiteful briars
in the spellbound heart of a night-time forest,
a rose lay hidden from men’s desires

for a hundred years, as was promised
by a jealous fairy in a fit of rage,
who imprisoned the palace in a thorny cage.

Young men who came to press their suit
were plucked and speared like ripened fruit,
stuck fast until they perished.

Prick of needle or prick of thorn,
for faeries, what’s the difference
as long as the princess is kissed by a prince?

Kim M. Russell, 2017

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My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Micro Poetry: Binding with Briars

Kerry asks us to put the ‘mini back into the Weekend Mini-Challenge’ and return to the option of form poetry by writing a poem in no more than 12 lines. This weekend, our frame of reference is ‘Binding with Briars’, which is taken from the final line of the poem ‘The Garden of Love’ by William Blake.

29 thoughts on “Bound by Faeries”

  6. A great telling of the fairy tale – woven so finely with briars round heart. In the final stanza, I can’t tell what the “prick of needle” is, paired with “prick of thorn” — Needle makes me think of addiction, and is it men’s lust that hangs them on that crucifix of briars? Or any addictive desire, assaulting hearts only found by surrender?

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    1. The needle refers to the spinning wheel on which Briar Rose, otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty, pricked her finger, but I like the idea of lust addiction!

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  7. Young men who came to press their suit
    were plucked and speared like ripened fruit,

    Love that!! The form worked well for story-telling – it has a feel of the classic ballads.

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