The Tower

By Bob McAfee

Rapunzel, I say,

placing a coronet of daisy chains

in the tangled skeins

of your long red hair,

I formally declare

you Queen of the Mountain,

long may you reign.

***

On this our wedding day,

in my cabin on Tower Rock,

sunlight echoing from each gleaming lock

of your Irish settler hair,

high up where eagles dare

we pledge our lives together

in the kingdom of the red-tailed hawk.

***

Evening and the guests have gone away.

We two now are one,

a princess and a pauper’s son;

all I desire, I swear,

is my face buried in your crimson hair,

reflected in the carmine fire

of the swollen setting sun.

🩷🩷🩷

Bob McAfee is a retired software consultant who lives with his wife near Boston.

He has written eight books of poetry, mostly on Love, Aging, and the Natural World.

For the last several years he has hosted a Wednesday night Zoom poetry workshop.

Since 2019, he has had more than 60 poems selected by over twenty different publications.

His website, www.bobmcafee.com, contains links to all his published poetry.

As of early this morning he was still in love with his best friend of nearly 60 years.