‘Snow White in the House of the Seven Dwarfs’: A Poem

Snow White in the House of the Seven Dwarfs

 

Standing on a slope, the girl

looked at the hill rising nearby;

just as night began to fall

curd-like thick upon it all.

 

At the top of the hill there is

a house glowing bright,

blinking in the shadows

like a mother calling her child.

 

Up up goes Snow White

and knocks on the door, distressed.

All is still silent,

for the house is enchanted;

only seven beating lamps

flicker softly inside.

 

The little girl pushes the door;

it opens to her like wings.

The house is as silent as before

as though for centuries holding on.

Snow White moves trembling

from room to room.

 

There’s a tiny dining room

exhaling a million scents.

On the table, seven plates;

on the plates, seven meals;

next to each, neatly folded,

seven white napkins;

seven flower bouquets;

seven ampoules of candid salt;

seven teeny tiny chairs

not bigger than a walnut;

on the chairs seven cloths

with seven numbers engraved,

and the peace that is in the dreams

settles over the house.

 

And Snow White contemplates

the table suppressed and pale.

She is so terribly hungry,

she could eat it all;

but she only passes by,

creeping, like a thief,

taking only a little bite

of every tempting delight…

 

Although shaking with fear,

she moves on to the next room.

There’s a white chamber

that fits in the eyes

and has seven little beds

as soft as cream;

The little pillows

are a jasmine long;

the covers are seven leaves

of a cindered cabbage.

Oh, with such fear Snow White

draws closer and closer, and feels them

and she smiles when she sees

that they don’t come undone.

She picks one that is hidden

and lies down, drained

like a drop of water

that in another drop rests.

 

She falls into a heavy sleep

and her breathing slowly dims;

her heart can be heard

like a cricket in a box.

The seven dwarfs come along.

Laughing, they go into the house,

sit at the table,

their gazes in awe.

‘Who sat on my chair?’

‘Who took a bite of my meal?’

‘Who pinched a piece of my bread?’

‘Who picked at my toast?’

‘Who changed my fork?’

‘Who made my lamp brighter?’

‘Who took a sip of my wine?’

‘Who emptied my lemonade?’

They all shout, and astonishment

enlarging their eyes,

and so to the chamber they go

carrying their seven lamps along.

And as they enter with fear

their uproar is about to burst forth:

 

‘Someone laid down on my bed!

They moved the pillows!’

And from the back, someone shouts

‘There’s a girl in my house!’

 

Seven lamps in hand, the dwarfs

go running to her,

forming a halo of light

around her face.

‘Oh, she’s so beautiful’ they all say,

‘and big as a beech tree’.

One touches her forehead,

another measures her back

and Snow White at last

wakes up amidst the fuss.

She looks at them, and looks again

and bursts into laughter.

 

They are small as seven

little almond-like gems

and they rise up like flames

so she can see them better.

They all fit in her lap;

she hugs all seven at once…

So she tells them

about her wicked stepmother

and the hunter who carried her over his shoulder

as if she was a beast of prey.

 

And they weep, moved,

tirelessly contemplating her.

They call her with the names of flowers;

‘Scent of wet sage,’

‘Slope with white almond trees,’

‘Mountain spring’.

 

And she asks them their names.

‘My name is Silver’, they say

‘My name is Blue Tin’.

‘I am Barbazas, Barbazas’.

 

And they grip her ears,

calling her ‘White clams’,

and they measure her long fingers,

‘Large conches’, they say.

 

And finally they put her to sleep

slowly with a love song.

‘Sleep until the fiery red crest

rooster crows

and the bats hang down

and a cow moos long and loud.

‘The seven dwarfs scare away

all the monsters out there;

the flying lizard,

the giant ladybird;

the one that resembles moss

and climbs to your door,

and the darkest snake

that at midnight descends.

 

‘We gather the seven beds together

so that you don’t need to curl up,

the seven dwarfs watch over you

with a fence of seven swords.

‘The dwarfs of the metal

watch over you better than your soul.

Sleep, sleep until the rooster crows

and a cow moos long and loud’.