I saw a "once upon a time" today
become a story on the evening news
and I agonized that such elation
would devolve into routine tragedy,
and puzzled over the circumstances
and speculated on the injuries
that would bleed the joy and pale the wonder
and forsake the corpse of "ever after"
to lie, dimmed, beside the lifeless body
of joy dissolved in a vat of despair
while "happily" wept the heart wrenching tears
of a future barren and sown with salt.
I shook my head, quietly, as I sipped
my scotch and randomly changed the channel.