Born of Monday

Born of Monday’s breath,
Mother wanted me red as blood
and white as dawn.
I was neither, so she died of sorrow.

I just needed someone to call me beautiful;
Even though my mirror wasn’t broken,
I still shattered,
and glass shards found my way under my fingernails.
He had loved me until I was dead,
and my lips had turned red, like love,
and I was white like sorrow.

When someone’s eyes turned maroon,
she let me die, and buried me under the apple tree.
I couldn’t breathe;
the coffin had circles for an eternity
alone.

The dirt was tight, so I couldn’t scream,
but I kept my eyes open. She broke me,
and my bones were dust
for the birds to sing.

When she held my heart
underneath her fingernails,
she let him starve,
except to taste my smile.
And I was red and white as my eyes misted over.
I wish he had never forgotten me.

Author notes

There is a Grimm's fairytale, called the Juniper Tree, where a mother wants a child who is red and white. She bears a son which is neither, and dies after seeing it. The stepmother bears a daughter, but hates the son, so kills him and feeds him to the father.

There is another English version where the child is a girl who is killed. I went with the girl, combining the two versions a bit.

The son that the stepmother bears does love the girl, so that's all good. I wrote it from the perspective of the girl of course, but she's dead.

In the normal versions, the daughter is in one resurrected, and in another, turns into a white bird which drops a millstone on the stepmothers head. In my version, she does not get saved or deal revenge. So a bit more reality in there...

Sorry it was so late, my internet crashed last night before I could post.