Beatriz & the Beast by Anna Cates

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: Beatrix & the Beast. Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

He sailed across the sea, where there be dragons,
beneath a sea green moon, soldiering,
though muscle and might could not defeat
the magi’s hex he fought.

From fields swampy with blood, warlocks netted him,
bound him in a neon green wizard’s warp,
caged him in a nebulous fate.

The king’s daughters paced in their pink slippers
along the marble floor before him, tossing up their noses
and shielding cleavage in arrest.  They labeled him “The Beast!”

Bat-like wings sprang from his nut-brown back,
and rocky brows overhung his gleaming eyes.
But Beatriz, a chambermaid, didn’t see animal
in those onyx orbs but intelligence instead.

She brought him water, cheese, and bread.  
His biceps boomed with the lift of each bite,
his regard never abandoning her.

One day, as she handed him a flask of new wine,
turquoise eyes in a pearly face met his gaze,
and love carried her away like a hawk with a field rabbit.

The day before his scheduled execution, she fell
to her knees before the throne, dark braids to the floor,
hands knotted in plea, and begged the king:
Spare the Beast!  

After a day or two of pondering, like a falconer
setting free his falcon, the king bid his top mage:  
Release the prisoner!  Like a meteor exploding,
with sparkly magic, the lock burst.

The two wed—a beauty and a beast:
Oh, Beatriz!  Oh, Beast!
Breast to breast, their two hearts meshed.

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About the author:
Dr. Anna Cates teaches writing, literature, and education online and has published a variety of books (poetry, fiction, and drama) through www.cyberwit.net, prolificpress.com, redmoonpress.com, and wipfandstock.com.  Her full-length poetry collection, Love in the Time of Covid, won an Illumination Book Award.  She resides in Wilmington, Ohio with her two cats.