​FAIRY TALE

​"We don’t go down there.
Not ever," she says.
She’s older than I am
and thinks she knows best.
But after my sister has fallen asleep,
I climb out of bed,
step into the hall,
and
     creep
            down
           the staircase.
​           The cellar is cold.
​
I stand in the shadows
and listen, breath held.
Mice in the floorboards.
The clock striking twelve.
Whispers in voices I know very well.
Her sobs and soft pleading.
Each kick, every slap.
Then she gets the slipper.
The belt, blue and black.
Hands on her gown...
I step back
and I scurry upstairs and crawl into bed.
​
My sister sits up. "Where have you been?"
"Cinderella. She was..."
I want to tell
what I saw,
what I heard.
"Go to sleep," says my sister.
"And don’t say a word."

​

​by ​Danny M. Cohen



Copyright 2017. Danny M. Cohen. All Rights Reserved.