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There Lived a Princess Long Ago: A Poem by Amrita Chatterjee


There lived a beautiful princess long ago, in the kingdom of wishes that never knew sorrow;
Whatever people wished for always came true, nothing ever happened out of the blue.

The princess wished her tress the darkest shade of night, to offset her complexion bright;
The crescent of the moon she yearned for her smile, the waves of the cloud for her hair to style.

Two dimples on her cheeks of red apple blush, her laughter the waterfall with a mellifluous gush;
The eyes endowed with the wealth of infinite seas, her gait nimble as the summer breeze.

In granted wishes, she lived life happy, but her cloistered existence made her sappy;
One day she desired to be a cloud in the sky, from one place to another she wanted to fly.

Her wish was fulfilled as she turned to a cloud, of her accomplishment she felt very proud;
Satiated from wandering she wanted to come down, but from the God of Clouds was accosted with a frown.

He reminded that this is not her kingdom of wish, and asked her to keep her desires on a leash;
She pleaded but from his decision God didn’t waver, he can’t bend rules and bestow a special favor.

She would float around mindlessly in the blue, her glorious past she’d rue;
When sadness overwhelmed she cried all her tears, her tears soaked the earth on monsoon every year.