Oh to be alive

She sat by the cinders, her work all done, listening to the crackling sound,   weary hands, in the red glow she warmed, the sparks dying out slowly, she saw, waiting still, till they were gone. Cinderella, by the cinders sat,  content; but a tad forlorn. The world she knew was vain and contemptuous, her step-sisters and mum, devious souls. Crouch she did when they yelled her commands, deep within though, she had the cleanest heart. So pure was she, the cinders melted, molten surged, nothingness replaced the air by the hearth. A stroke of luck took her to the prized Ball, the fairy had said, this much and no more. Caught up in the moment she  didn't see the clock strike, as she should have before. Pandemonium, panic and back to clinkers she was, the proverbial prince had a relic from their time, it  didn't  take much for him to define, she was the one with the golden heart ...

Sometimes I dream, I dream a lot, I wait a while till I reach that spot. And then I stay, linger on fervently praying, for a delayed dawn. Could this be happening? I exclaim in glee, before I know, I just cannot see. Once the haze lifts, the limbs uncurl, I swirl around, meet up with that little girl. She looks at me with the same plea, where did you lose yourself? in the melee.

Meandering trails, nooks adorned, crisscrossing paths, destinations unknown, friendly strangers, devious friends. A sudden turn, a detour, along the alleyway, a little trapdoor. A lifetime caugh t in a moment, satiating, flashes clouded through a  lifetime, waiting to uncurl, lazily unfold. Wanting to break free, chained by centuries of norms, ties, tales untold, suddenly explode.