Cinderella Instincts

I can hear the bells are ringing
this chained wolf howling at the midnight moon
watch her transform
as that glass slipper now falls from her paws.

Once more denied her Prince
beneath fur coat and glistening jaws
the shoe it fits no longer
the foot for which I seek
and best also that I don't
should I wish to keep my throat.

Wait instead another month
that next full moon
when again she takes human form
when that beast be chained once more inside
another brief chance to find a love
that breaks her curse
lest she break them first
bones like twigs between those teeth
like so many before.

These faerie-tale rules
ever unappealing
til midnight is barely enough
to seal this deal
to find the other half
become one
such brief lives made whole
else be torn apart.