GRIMM

"Then was all care at an end, and they lived in great joy together." - Hansel and Grethel

Your gingerbread house is crumbling
The sugary foundation melts away,
Running down the hill like blood or water
There is no difference here

Horticulture breeds fear
Poison-coated apples, glowing green
And barbed rose bushes that make a woman's finger bleed
Or tear a witch to pieces

Tight vines that isolate a castle
Corpses hang
Warmth drips down across the tangled thorns

A man drugs and dismembers his wives
And all three of them, sisters
It's a shame their mother is already dead
Bring on the stepmothers

Where do nice men find these women?
Who beat and starve and lock up the children
Snap their little heads off in a wooden chest
Then tie it back on with a ribbon

No one believes the talking animals
Just buy one some boots
And a hat with a feather
You've lost your shoes anyway
On the steps of the palace

Don't go inside unless you want to see
A prince made of glass
And a viperish stepmother-in-law
She'll drown you in the bath
Then eat you and your children
When he goes on vacation

But he'll come back
Always at just the right time,
Or hundreds of years after wandering the wilderness
His eyes punctured by a snow white
Or rose red

Hide behind the cauldron
And watch the man you'll marry
Dice up a girl like a chicken
Pinkening the water in the pot
As she cooks

So strangle the cats
Reassemble the bodies
Slit the wolf's insides open
Close the book, go to sleep...

And learn from it