Never After

What happens beyond
the Happily Ever Afters?

Did Snow White return to the cottage
to find Grumpy hanging from the rafters?
To see Dopey dead in bed
with a needle in his arm?

Is it true,
the Belle did indeed marry a beast,
and she spends her days doing her best
to hide the bruises from a hand no stranger would have guessed?

Does Ariel stare out to sea
and with teary eyes wish
that she could return again to a palace
where the dinner menu does not feature fish?

Does Mulan look in a stately mirror
and long for the days when she felt the realest,
a strong man with a warrior's heart,
and now instead plays a lady's part?

Perhaps Aurora misses
days of True Love's kisses,
when children were seen
just once upon a dream?

There is no ever after,
just memories of simpler times,
days of fantasy and nursery rhymes.