Waltz step, right, left, left.

Practice, memory, repetition.

Muscles aching, hurting, pulling.

Cinderella practicing for the ball,

dreaming of what happens under cover of night,

fighting the other woman for her man,

knowing she must practice all she can

to win her beloved prince over.

She listens for the clip-clop of horse hooves,

knowing the overall goal of this

is romance ending in the Candy Land Castle

up the peppermint trail.

She feels like an alien,

a stranger to this world, watching time fly.

And she feels jumpy

like someone is hiding with a clock,

ready to remind her that

their moment’s short.

But as she leaves, she calls over her shoulder,

“I’ll be back.”