Belle

(Part of the Princess Series of Poems)

Belle’s beast discovered love in Villeneuve’s Beauty,

keeping him alive, back in his castle prison, nursed

to health rather than left to die by a pack of wolves gnawing,

gnashing; and she, the inventor’s daughter, motherless, wanting more,

discovered her love for him in being set free, Beast prepared

to stay a beast forever, the last rose petal falling, because

he loved her, an unspoken gesture, not knowing she would,

with a kiss, an admission of love returned, set him free,

the spell broken, and a prince once more restored, enchanted,

in this tale as old as time,

song as old as rhyme,

                        Beauty and the Beast.